Remember Me
by Ms. Issippi
Summary: Soul and Maka are married. But when Maka begins to lose her memory, some things are inevitable and Maka forgets him completely. Now, Soul has to get his wife to fall back in love with him. Soul/Maka, Kid/Fem!Crona, BlackStar/Tsubaki, and more.
1. News

**A/N: I don't know why, but I had an idea in my head like this since September. I may change the title later, but it depends if I come up with something better.**

**This story contains:**

**People losing their memory, angst, female Crona, Soul/Maka, Kid/Crona, and BlackStar/Tsubaki. **

**I do not own Soul Eater.**

**Without further ado, please enjoy!**

* * *

_ It's always times like these_

_ When I think of you_

_ And I wonder_

_ If you ever_

_ Think of me_

* * *

Maka has memory problems sometimes. It's nothing big, so we usually don't worry about it. Occasionally she'll forget small things like to turn the burner off, or what we just watched on TV, or what we had for dinner last night. She'll forget why she walked into a room, how to spell simple words, what time she has to wake up for work, or what her father's phone number is. Other times, it takes her a little while to remember that we're married.

But she always remembers in the end. That's why we don't worry about it too much. We just pushed it off as a minor case of short term memory loss, and went back to living our lives.

I usually cook our meals, since I don't really trust her with the stove anymore. She almost set our house on fire once. She doesn't even remember certain recipes anymore, which is a shame because I used to love her key lime pie. One morning, while I'm flipping an omelet over, she walks into the kitchen looking kinda confused. When I ask her what's worn, she just looks at me for a little while before replying.

"Soul, I just had the weirdest dream. You and Black Star were fighting Kid outside the school! But then he tried to wield you but you landed on his head and nearly sliced him in half. It felt so real!" She exclaimed, and I frown. "Maka, that _did _happen. A long time ago. When Kid first enrolled in the school and you were there, with Tsubaki, watching the whole thing." She looks really stumped for a second. "...Huh? I was?" She asks, and I sigh. Great, so she's forgetting major events now, too?

I turn back to the omelets and put them on plates, handing her one. "Yep, you were there." I say, and she looks disbelieving for a second before she remembers. "Oh yeah! That was before we fought Stein!" She said, triumphant. But she's wrong.

"...No, dear. That was before we fought _Crona."_ I remind her. She just looks down at her breakfast. "...I knew that..." She says softly, but still isn't looking at me. I really doubt she does. "Of course you do, Maka. Of course you do." I say, and return to my meal.

I try to be gentle with her when things like this happen. I know that she knows that she forgets things a lot too, and she doesn't like to admit that she's wrong. We silently eat our breakfast, and Maka says that she's going to read the newspaper when she's done. I nod and take our plates to the sink, deciding to wash them later.

When I walk into the living room, Maka is watching the news on TV. I sit next to her. "I thought you said that you were gonna read the news_paper._." I say, and she replies while still watching the screen. "No, I said that I was going to watch the news. You should really listen to people when they're talking to you. Ha, I sound like Crona." She says, and I chuckle. At least she didn't forget _that._

"Whatever you say, Maka." I tell her, wrapping my arm around her shoulders. She smiles and continues to watch the news.

Maka started this about three years ago, when she turned 25. The first time we noticed it, she forgot where our house was when she was driving back from Liz's house alone. It took her all night to get home, and all I could do was wait for her. It was the scariest night of my life when I thought I might've lost her. She showed up at 4:00 in the morning, and she was crying her eyes out. We sat on the couch and she explained everything to me. We fell asleep there that night.

The next morning, she thought that we were late for school. When I reminded her that we graduated a long time ago, she didn't believe me. We went to a doctor, and he gave us a perscription for some pills she could take to make this less likely to happen. I crush them and put it into her water since she doesn't like pills. He told me that what she has doesn't have a name, but with the right treatments, she'll be better in no time. I really hope these pills are working.

I really hope it only gets better from here. But I know that isn't likely. The day will come sooner or later when Maka forgets me completely. I don't know what I'll do then.

* * *

_ 'Cause everything's so wrong_

_ And I don't belong_

_ Living in your_

_ Precious memories_

-Vanessa Carlton, A Thousand Miles


	2. Kami

_"Maybe I know somewhere_

_Deep in my soul_

_That love never lasts_

_And we've got to find other ways_

_To make it alone_

_Or keep a straight face."_

* * *

Maka woke up at three in the morning today. When I got up to use the bathroom, her side of the bed was empty and I found her on the balcony, staring up at the sky. So I finished my business and went out to join her, careful not to startle her. She smiled at me when I leaned my elbow on the rail with my chin in my hands.

"Something on your mind, Maka?" I ask her, and she automatically shakes her head. "Nope," She says, but I can tell that she's lying. She has this habit of wringing her hands when she's lying, and I've picked up on this trait. I'm glad I'm one of the only ones who has. "You're a terrible liar." I joke, and ruffle her bed head. She just sighs and looks down at her feet. "Seriously, what's up? You can talk to me, you know." I persist, and eventually she gives in.

"I'm losing my memory, aren't I Soul?" She manages to ask me, and I stop messing up her already messy hair. Instead, I begin running my hands through it's silkiness. "I'd be lying if I said no." I reply quietly, and she looks up at me with tears in her olive green eyes. I hate it when she cries.

"I don't wanna forget you, Soul! Or anyone else! Not Liz, not Patty, not Tsubaki, not Black Star, not Kid, not Crona! I love you so much, and I wouldn't want my life to be any other way." She sniffs, and I sit down next to her, turning my chair towards her.

I tilt her chin so she can look at me. "Maka, listen to me. That will never happen, okay? Never. I'll make sure of it." I kiss her head, and she cries into my shirt. I would usually complain that it was uncool to have tears on my shirt, but right now I can tell that Maka needs to cry like this, so I don't say anything and continue to run my hands through her hair. We stay like this for a while. It's actually kinda nice. In a way.

When she's let it all out, we both smile at each other and stare at the night sky. I point out all the planets to her. I remembered that Tsubaki showed me where they were once and I thought that it would interest her. Just as I suspected, it did. She said that she read about the planets in an astronomy book once, but forgot the names of all the planets, including the one we were standing on. I've never known them all myself, (I'm not that good at astronomy) so I get out her book and look up the planet names. We look at the sky quietly after a while, until Maka speaks up.

She smiles. "I like the night sky. It's really pretty. It's like someone threw a blanket over your head and cut out tiny air holes so that you can breathe." She says, and I look up, trying to envision it. I kinda get what she means, and I smirk. "I never thought about it like that." I tell her, and she yawns. I look at the clock inside and realize that it's 6:53, and we've been up for three hours. Just then, we notice the laughing sun emerging from the horizon, and the moon setting to go to a different part of the world and laugh at those people. We watch the sun rise before heading inside. It laughs at us.

* * *

Maka and I walk inside so I can make breakfast. Luckily it's Sunday, so we both have off. As I'm pouring bowls of cereal, Maka looks at pictures around the walls in our dining room. As I put our bowls on the table, she turns to me and points to someone in a picture. "Who's this?" She asks, and I walk over to see who she's talking about.

It's a picture of her when she was a little kid. She's swinging at a playground, her red dress and blonde pigtails swishing behind her dramatically, while being pushed by her mother, Kami. Spirit took the picture. She's pointing to the blonde woman in the photo, who is laughing and looking like she's having a great time.

I frown. "That's your mother, Maka. Kami. Ring a bell?" I ask, hoping it does, but she just looks at the picture again. "She's pretty." Is all she says, turning to her cereal bowl. I freeze. That's the first time I ever had to remind her of something where she didn't remember soon after. I'm suddenly really concerned.

Grabbing the phone off the receiver, I quickly dial her mother's number. I hand her the phone, and she gives me a quizzical look. "Why don't you talk to her?" I suggest, and she picks it up, shrugging. Waiting a little while, I hear Kami's voice from the phone, trying to make out what she's saying.

Maka's parents know that she doesn't have a good memory. So I listen to everything Maka says very carefully.

"Hi, mother... I'm fine... No, I asked Soul a question about you and he thought that I should call you... No, I was wondering who you were, he said I knew you... Yes, he's right here... Okay, I'll put him on for you. I hope I can talk to you some other time as well. You seem like a very nice person. Goodbye." She says, handing me the phone.

Oh no. That didn't sound good.

My stomach lurches as I grab the phone from her outstretched had. It's worse than I thought.

She's forgotten her mother completely.

* * *

_"And I've always lived like this_

_Keeping a comfortable distance_

_And up until now I have sworn to myself_

_That I'm content_

_With loneliness_

_Because none of it was ever worth the risk."_

-Paramore, The Only Exception


	3. Names

**A/N: Since the last two chapters were kind of short, here's a long one. It's seven pages. You're welcome.**

**Also, in response to a review I received, I have seen _There's an Eraser in My Head, _and I'm glad that someone else knew that move. It's really wonderful, one of my favorites. Although, as the story progresses, I'm planning something a bit more dramatic for Maka. **

* * *

_Think of me, think of me fondly_

_When we've said goodbye_

_Remember me _

_Once in a while_

_Please promise me you'll try_

* * *

My hands are shaking slightly as I bring the phone to my ear. Maka shrugs and continues eating her cereal as if nothing's wrong while I walk into the other room so that Maka won't hear me and be concerned. That's the last thing that I want to happen.

After I close the door, I whisper a greeting to the person on the other line, who happens to be Maka's mother, Kami. I hear her sigh before speaking to me.

"It's gotten worse, then?" She asks me, and I reply with a yes. Kami sighs once more. "I knew it would come to this eventually. It was only a matter of time, really. I don't blame you, of course, don't worry, I know you've been trying to help her... Is it okay if I come to visit you two?" She asks me. "Of course, you're always welcome." I tell her. "Okay, I'll probably be there in an hour or two. I'll see you then." She concludes, and hangs up the phone.

I walk back into the kitchen and Maka is washing her bowl in the sink. I silently slink to the table and eat my now unappetizing, soggy cereal. She turns to me. "Soul, what was all that about? Is something wrong?" She asks, concerned, and I shake my head in denial. "Nothing's wrong, Maka. Can you get dressed? Someone's coming to see you." I tell her, and she nods, heading to our room to put on her everyday clothes.

After I finish my breakfast, Maka is reading on the couch. I go to our room to get dressed and join her when I'm all ready. I sit next to her, putting an arm around her shoulders and peering over to her book.

"_'We won!' yelled Ron, bounding into sight and brandishing the silver cup at Harry. 'We won! Four hundred and fifty to a hundred and forty! We won!'"_

That was all I read before I instantly knew what she was reading. "Harry Potter?" I asked, and she nodded. "Half-Blood Prince. Harry's about to kiss Ginny." She informed me, pointing to the sentence at the bottom of the page.

"_...without worrying about the fact that fifty people were watching, Harry kissed her."_

"How romantic." I say, and kiss her head, ruffling her hair afterward. She giggles, adjusting her skirt and fixing her hair. She continues to silently read while I watch the window. I'm waiting for Kami, although I know she lives two hours away and she'll probably take a while to get here. I just want to be ready when she does.

An hour and a half later, her car pulls into out driveway. I can see that she rushed here, because her hair is not made and her shirt is on backwards. "Company," I tell Maka, and she marks her page, checking her hair in the mirror. I rush to the door and nearly collide with Maka's mother. "Maka," I say, and she turns to us. "Your mother came to visit." I tell her, pointing to Kami, who's smiling at her daughter, but it looks forced.

"Hi, dear, how are you?" Kami asks, ready to go over and hug Maka. Maka walks over and shakes her hand instead. Kami looks hurt. I cringe. This is not going well at all. "Hello, nice to meet you. You're the woman I talked to on the phone earlier." She says, smiling politely. Kami smiles back, and nods. "I am. Tell me, dear," She says, taking Maka over to the couch and sitting her down. "...Do... Do you... Know who I am? Other than being your mother? Do you remember me? Any good times we had together?" Kami blurts out. I hold my breath, hoping it all comes back to Maka like it usually does.

But it doesn't.

Maka bites her lip. She's looking down now. I hear her softly mutter a 'no.' Kami and I glance at each other. "Is that... bad?" Maka asks, and Kami puts a hand on her shoulder. "...Maka. We should go to the doctor."

I say that I want to go, but Kami asks me to stay home. I don't get why, I _am _Maka's husband, but I get that she doesn't want to worry me or make it seem dire to Maka. She looks confused, and I can tell she wants me to come. I would be too, I mean, Maka doesn't know who this woman who's claiming to be her mother is. And now she's taking her to the doctor's all alone. I smile reassuringly at her and squeeze her hand before she walks out the door, and decide to make a few phone calls before they come back. I need some advice.

My first instinct is to call Black Star, seeing as he's my best friend. (Other than Maka of course.) So I dial his house number and Tsubaki picks up the phone. I decided to talk to her instead, since I figured that Black Star probably won't be much help.

"Hello? This is Tsubaki speaking." I hear her say. "Hi, Tsubaki. It's Soul." I reply to her, and she immediately says "Hi, Soul. You wanna talk to Black Star?" But I tell her that no, I wanted to talk to her. "Oh, I see. So... what is it you wanted to talk about? Is it about Maka?" She asks, and I grunt. "Yeah, it is. It's gotten worse, her memory. She doesn't remember her mom. She came over and now they're at the doctor." I confess, and I hear her gasp. "Do you think she'll be alright? Has anything like this ever happened before?" She asks, and I sigh. "I dunno, Tsubaki. She always remembers things after I remind her, but she was completely stumped. She had no idea who she was."

Tsubaki sighs sadly. "I hope she gets better. How about we all go to visit you tomorrow? I'll tell everyone if you'd like. It'll be a nice way to cheer you two up." She suggests, and I think about it. "Tsubaki, do you really think that's a good idea? I mean, I'm sure she'd love it, but what if she forgets a few of you?" I ask, and she hums. "I think we should try it. It'll be fun. Like a get better soon party." She says, and I smile a bit. Tsubaki is really thoughtful, I like that about her. Black Star's one lucky guy. "Alright, Tsubaki, if you insist. I'll keep it a surprise." I tell her, and we say goodbye and hang up. Just as I'm about to call Liz, the phone rings. It's Kami.

I pick up with uncertainty. "Kami?" I ask, and she sounds frantic. "At the doctor. Bring a photo album. Doctor insists. Come quickly." She says in a rush, and then hangs up. I grab our photo album and speed to the doctor. I think I nearly killed a few people, but Kami sounded panicked. I was slightly worried.

I get there and jump out of my car. Kami's waiting for me outside and ushers me in, taking me into a room where Maka is. The doctor asks for her to leave, and she argues for five minutes before saying she'll be in the waiting room. Maka looks overly-excited to see me. The doctor takes me to the side so that Maka can't hear us. "Listen," He says. "Your her husband?" He asks, and I nod, smiling. I'm proud to hold that title. "Right. Take the photo album and tell her to name every person in each photo. This is just to see how bad her condition is. If it's bad, she could possibly have Alzheimer's. But it's unlikely, don't worry." He says, pointing to Maka. She looks nervous.

I open the photo album to the first page. There's a picture of Her and Spirit there. "Do you know who this is?" I ask her, pointing to the red-haired man. She scowls. "I wish I didn't. That's Papa." She says, and I sigh in relief. I turn to the next picture. It's her and Black Star as kids. They knew each other when they were growing up. I point to his recognizable blue hair. "And this?" I ask. She laughs. "How can I forget? That's Black Star." She says, and I smile. So far, so good. Next page. It's Kami. "That's that lady. Kami, I think she said her name was. But I don't really remember her." She says, frowning. I nod. "That's okay, Maka. Don't worry." I turn the page.

The next one is of me and her. I can feel myself sweating. She smiles. "That's you and me, silly. I'd never, ever forget you. Ever." She says, and I smile too. Next page has Tsubaki and Black Star. "That's Tsu... Tsu... Tsubari...? I don't really remember her name, but I know who she is. She's Black Star's weapon. She's really nice and patient and I like her. We've been friends for a long time." She says. "Her name is Tsubaki." I say quickly, turning the page. It's a group picture. I point to each person, and she names them for me.

"That's me. You. Kid. Liz. Patty. Tsu...baki. Black Star. Crona. Ragnarok. Kim. Jackie. Ox. Harvar. I don't remember his name but I know who he is. He's their meister, but I always get them mixed up. One's Pot of... Fire, and the other's Pot of... Lightning?" She says. "That's Kilik," I say, pointing to him. "And you were close. Pot of Fire and Pot of _Thunder._" I say, pointing to them. She nods. "You also got Crona and Ragnarok mixed up. Crona's the one with Pink hair, Ragnarok's the little black blob... thing." I say, and she bites her lip. I just want to test her a little more, to make sure she still knows who Crona is.

"Where did we first meet Crona?" I ask, pointing to the pink haired meister. "In the church. In Italy." She says confidently. I nod. "Who is Crona's mother? What was she?" I ask, hoping she remembers. "She was Medusa. A witch. I hated her so much. She used to abuse Crona. That's why we had to fight Crona when we first met her. She was eating human souls unknowingly because Medusa told her it was okay. But we became friends under the academy, when I matched her soul's wavelength. That was the fight where the Kishin was revived." She states. I smile. "Good, perfect. Next photo. Who are they?" I ask, turning the page and pointing to the photo.

It's Spirit, Marie, Lord Death, Azusa, and Stein. She gets them all right. Next, Blair. After that, Crona and Ragnarok again. She gets all the rest of the photos right, too. She even managed to remember Tsubaki's full name. I tell the doctor that she got most everyone right, and he asks me a few questions about Maka's relationship with her mother. I told him how she wasn't really there for Maka when we were teens, because she was always traveling around the world. He says that she may have forgotten her because Kami spent so little time with her.

He tells us to come back in a week. Kami drives home after we say goodbye to her, and I drive Maka home. It's getting dark out now, and she tells me that she's hungry. I sigh and go to the nearest fast food restaurant since I'm not in the mood to cook. After we finally (finally!) get home, I sink on the couch and lay there for a while. She goes to take a bath, so I call Liz. She tells me that she and Tsubaki planned to swing by our place with all our friends at around three the next day and told me to get Maka out of the house for a while. I agree, and tell her where we hide our spare key.

Maka sleeps like she's been up for days. But I can't manage to fall asleep, even with how tired I am. I'm nervous, I admit. Maka forgot who her mother was and I thought I saw Kami sniffing as she walked to her car. I don't want to end up like that, with my wife forgetting who I am. When she first started forgetting everything, she told me I'd be better off leaving her. But I told her that I'd never, ever do that. I love her too much. I can't bear the thought of ever leaving her. But this relationship is killing me.

I know it's going to happen. I know she's going to forget me. And I know that all we're doing is just delaying the inevitable. But I'll stay with her until the end. Even if she does forget who I am.

* * *

_When you find_

_That once again you long_

_To take your heart back a__nd be free_

_If you ever find a moment,_

_Spare a thought for me._

_-The Phantom of the Opera, _Think of Me


	4. Piano

**A/N: This chapter contains the children of the original Soul Eater characters. So, Black Star and Tsubaki, Kid and Crona, Liz and (Human of course) Ragnarok, and Ox and Kim all have kids. There will be an explanation later as to why Soul and Maka don't have kids. (By the way, I know Tsubaki and Black Star's boys' names suck. I couldn't think of anything much better. I'm awful with names.) Since they're all in their 20's, the kids are pretty young.**

* * *

_Once upon a time, there was a tavern_

_Where we used to raise a glass or two_

_Remember how we'd laugh away the hours_

_Think of all the great things we would do_

* * *

I made sure Maka got to work on time this morning, (I have to drive her because she forgets where the building is, but it's the biggest in the city. She works at the academy.) And then I did a bit of cleaning. I never clean the house, so I wasn't really sure what to do. Do I spray the wood cleaner on the coffee table before or after I wipe it?

When I finally figured out that it was before I wipe the table, the rest of the house was pretty easy. Maka keeps it pretty neat, which I'm thankful for. All I had to do was dust around a bit, and that nearly made me choke. Probably the dustiest thing was my old piano, the one I hardly ever touch. Playing the piano is uncool, and it reminds me of being in that stupid black room, being swallowed by the little demon. So it kind of just sits there in the corner of our living room. Maka insisted we had one, but it was really just a waste of money since I don't play it.

Liz keeps calling me periodically throughout the day so that I don't forget about the party. But I'm playing housewife right now, so how on earth can I? By the time 2:30 rolls around, I remember just on time to go pick up Maka from the academy. She's standing outside when I get there, and I park the car to get out. I have to keep Maka occupied until the party. I step out and she grins. "Did you forget that you're supposed to drive me home?" She asked, and I stretch. "Nah, I wanted to see some of our old pals at the academy. Come on, show me around. It's been a while." I say, and it's true. I wanted to see Marie and Stein and Sid, since I haven't seen them since the day I graduated.

Maka and I walk inside the building and I find that it hasn't changed, only slightly. The symmetry of the school is even more perfected then before since Lord Death passed on. When Kid became a full-time grim reaper, Death gave him his job, so now Kid runs the school. You can imagine that perfecting the school was Kid's first priority. Honestly, I don't know how Crona puts up with him. Or Liz. Or Patty. Or, anyone, for that matter. But that's beside the point. I admit, I really miss Lord Death's extremely silly voice and attitude, since he was actually a really fun guy at heart. I guess grim reapers aren't always what you expect them to be.

We go to Maka's classroom first, since I've only seen it once before, when she first got the job. It's pretty nice; she's got the whole place neatly arranged. But what I like most about it is that the sign outside the classroom says: "Mrs. Evans' class." There's a lone student in there, writing something. My guess is that Maka gave them extra homework. I wouldn't put it past her.

Maka smiles at the student. "Well, hi there, Camellia. What're you doing here?" She asks, and the girl looks up. I realize that it's Black Star and Tsubaki's daughter, Camellia. She's got purplish hair tied in a bun, greenish eyes, and looks a lot like Tsubaki. She also acts a lot like Tsubaki, except when she gets mad. Then, she's as determined as Black Star. Camellia smiles at Maka. "Hello, Mrs. Evans. I was just finishing my homework so that I won't get distracted later. I'm sorry if I'm disturbing you, I'll go to the library instead if you'd like," She offered, but Maka shook her head. Camellia turns and smiles at me, seeing as I'm her father's best friend. "Hello, Mr. Evans." She greets me, and I smile slightly. "Hey, Camellia. I didn't know you were in Maka's class. How's your dear ol' dad doing?" I ask, and she chuckles. Maka goes to get something out of her desk.

"He's fine, Mr. Evans. Thank you for asking. "She says, and packs up her books, standing. "I've just finished my work, so I think I'll be leaving now. Thank you for letting me stay in here to do my work. I'll see you tomorrow, Mrs. Evans." She says, making her way towards the door, Maka lifts her head. "No problem, dear. Tell Tsubaki I said hi." She says, smiling. Camellia nods. "Okay, I will. Thank you." She says, leaving the room. I turn to Maka. "Nice kid." I say, and she smiles. "She's one of my favorite students. Don't tell anyone I said that." She says, pulling out a list of names. "These are all my students." She says, and I go over them.

Not a bad group of Kids, including but not limited to Riley and Zoe Death, (Sisters, Kid and Crona's kids. Riley's very defiant and rebellious while Zoe's really reserved. It's too bad she doesn't have their son, Raine. He's like Kid without the OCD. ) Cirrus and Stratus Thompson (Twins, Liz and Ragnarok's daughters; Liz swears it was a one-time thing but she loves her girls. She's probably the most devoted mom I've ever seen.) Camellia Star (Black Star and Tsubaki; thankfully she doesn't have Gray Star or Blue Star. Those two are out of control.) Damon Éclair (Harvar and Jackie. He's pretty laid back and very dependent on his partner.) And Enid Ford (Ox and Kim; She's super serious. Reminds me of Azusa.)

The rest are boys who I don't know who their parents are. I turn to Maka, grinning. "I bet Cirrus drives you insane." I say, and she laughs. "I think she spends way too much time with Patty." She replies, to which I laugh. It's true; if you didn't know any better, you'd think Cirrus and Patty were sisters separated at birth. It's hard to believe Cirrus is the older twin of Stratus when she's so spontaneous and Stratus is so quiet and hardly ever shows emotion. We exit the classroom and visit Marie, who still looks pretty young despite her age. She's ecstatic to see me. We also see Stein, who's getting up there in years. He's still the same, and doesn't seem too thrilled to see me. It's around three when we get home, and I hope that everyone is already at our house. But this is confirmed when Liz texts us telling me that it's all right to come home. As I pull into the driveway, I see Black Star peeking through the window and running back when he sees my car. I smile to myself at how obvious he's being.

We step inside the house to find our old group of friends there, yelling surprise for Maka. Some are much more enthusiastic than others, like Patty, Black Star and Liz. Maka's shocked at first, but then smiles and laughs. She's never had a surprise party before. She looks at me, and I'm smiling. "What a nice surprise. But it's not my birthday." She says, and I shrug. "I know it's not your birthday, but who says we can't have a surprise party?" I said, and she smiled. "Thanks, you guys. You're all awesome." She says, beaming. Liz grins, putting a hand on Patty's shoulder, who is bouncing up and down. She's hardly changed.

"Well, we should get this party started, then! C'mon, someone hit the radio." Liz says, and Black Star hits the button on the radio on the counter, and a song starts playing. I notice that they've decorated the house a bit, and there are snacks on our coffee table now. Black Star and Patty dig in, something that makes Tsubaki cringe and me laugh.

It goes pretty well. Everything goes like how it was when we were all at the academy, and it's like old times. So far, Maka's trying her best to remember everyone. The only person whose name she messed up on was Tsubaki's, and she pronounced the T when it's supposed to be silent. Tsubaki didn't correct her.

We all just talk and hang out for a while, which is nice. I suddenly find myself wishing we could go back in time, back to when we were students at the academy. Back when the only thing we stressed about was homework, missions, and becoming a death scythe. Back when none of us had kids. Back when Lord Death would greet us in his usual silly manner each day, and how we didn't know that we'd one day lose all that innocence, all that security, all those carefree hours just sitting and talking. More than anything, I wish we could go back to when Maka didn't have memory problems. Back when she could remember the name of every tool in Stein's office, when she could remember all the places we visited on missions, when she could remember what days were important to us. We used to celebrate the day we met every year, but I don't think she even remembers what it was anymore. I wouldn't be surprised if she didn't remember what day her birthday and what our anniversary are on.

I watch her and Crona talk, and they're just as good of friends as they were back at the academy. Maka's still protective of Crona, and Crona's still very timid. I make a mental note to myself to ask Kid how the hell he got her to even kiss him, let alone have his kids. But that can wait, since I guess it's not a very appropriate question. According to Maka.

The party was thoughtful of them, and Maka had a great time, although Black Star nearly broke all of our windows and almost smashed my piano. I had run a light speed to catch him, because although I don't play it, that piano was expensive. It was then that Maka noticed it was there. Her eyes brightened as she turned to me.

"I didn't know you played piano! Since when?" She exclaimed, and the chatting cut short. Liz had just turned off the radio, Patty had ceased her incessant laughter, and even Kid had halted his symmetry rant. Everyone looked at both me and Maka nervously. Tsubaki and I glance at each other, and I mentally tell her: "This is what I was talking about." Black Star's eyes are wide, Patty is silent on the sofa, Liz gasps from behind the counter, and Kid is gripping Crona's shoulder, who is covering her mouth. I've told them about Maka's problem, but they've never witnessed it before. A few are shocked, but others are disbelieving. Maka and I _met _because of a piano. How can she forget I even played it?

"Yes, Maka, I play piano. I've played it since before I can remember. We met because you heard me playing it. That's how we became partners. Don't you remember?" I ask, and I can tell she's nervous now, with all our friends watching. I didn't mean to make her nervous; but I have to know if she's completely forgotten or not. And I've told her not to lie to me when this happens. It's important I know what's going on inside her head. "…Oh. Yeah… I… I forgot…" She says, staring at her feet. You could hear a pin drop in the room. That's how quiet it is. In fact, it's so quiet I forgot that this is a party. I even forgot that people besides us are here.

She slightly looks up. "Do you think you could play it for me right now? Maybe I'd remember if you did." This causes Tsubaki, Liz, and Patty to giggle. "Yeah, why don't you, Soul?" Liz taunts, and I shake my head. I've only played for everyone once or twice. It's hardly any more for Maka. I don't even think Crona _ever_ heard me play. They always wanted me to play at parties when we were students, but that dream was long forgotten. "Not now, Maka, okay? After the party. Then I'll play for you, but later." I say, and she nods. We try to go back to the party, but it's pretty awkward now.

Eventually, Tsubaki and Black Star leave, hugging Maka and waving to me out the door. Tsubaki looks at Maka with sympathy, but she doesn't get why. Kid and Crona leave next, and Maka asks Crona if she could stay the night, but Crona says that she's got to take care of the kids at home. Kid chuckles, and pats me on the back before leaving. "I'm sure she'll pull through. She's strong. She can't keep this up; it'll all come back to her eventually." He says, and with that, they leave. Liz and Patty leave last. Patty's laughing, and Liz is arguing on the phone with Ragnarok. I don't have a clue as to what, but she sounds pretty mad. Call me crazy, but I think she still has a thing for him. I bet if I ask her about that, though, she'll murder me.

Finally, Maka and I are alone. Maka drags me to the piano and pulls out the seat for me, smiling. I sigh and sit down, and she plops down on the seat next to me. She tells me to play something she knows. So I play the song I played on the day we met for her. It doesn't have a name; it's just something dark and mysterious I made up when I was younger. I can see her closing her eyes and swaying along through the corner of my eye. I take this as a good sign. Maybe she's remembering. When the song's finished, she asks me to play something else. I don't want to, but I decide to anyway. It's obvious she wants to relax, and while I'm in the mood I might as well. So I retrieve a dusty folder from behind the piano. Blowing away the dust, I hand it to Maka, telling her to pick out anything she wants. It's full of old music sheets. Some of them are so old that I can't even read them anymore. But she picks one that isn't too old and at least I can read it. And it's simple, too. It's Gymnopedie No. 1, Erik Satie. "…Gymnopedie, huh? My old friend. It fits you. Kinda melancholy and relaxing. I'll play it." I say, and sit on the stool. She's retreated to the couch by this point, because she wants to lean back and close her eyes. It doesn't take me long to finish, and she comes over and sits on the stool again.

She looks down at all the keys, and places her finger on one. She presses down, and a note plays. It's quiet, so she presses it again. It's a g, _so_ in the solfege syllables. I press my finger on a higher note, and she responds with another note afterwards. And before we know it, we're making music. It sounds pretty dark, but there are some redeeming qualities to it. If I could remember what notes we're playing, I'd write it down, but I don't want to stop. For once, I'm not miserable playing the piano.

We're up until 3 in the morning playing the piano. Maka falls asleep first, placing her head gently on some keys. It makes a funny noise with about five keys pressed down under the weight of her head. I carry her to bed and after tucking her in like a five year old, I lay my head on the pillow, staring at the ceiling.

I decide that I can't sleep and go to my piano again. I play the song Maka chose for me again and again, softly so that I don't wake her up. But she does anyway, and we continue our song. I don't get a wink of sleep. But it feels nice to be sitting at a small piano stool with someone you love, smiling and making music together.

I only wish that it would last.

* * *

_Those were the days, my friend,_

_We thought they'd never end_

_We'd sing and dance forever and a day._

_We'd live the life we'd choose,_

_We'd fight and never lose,_

_For we were young and sure to have our way._

-Mary Hopkins, Those Were the Days


	5. Children

_Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future._

-John F. Kennedy

* * *

Maka's going delusional.

I was sitting at the table this morning, eating cereal, and reading the news. Maka had just woken up. I heard her walk in, so I turned to say good morning. But she looked panicked. Her face was pale and she looked really worried.

I got up. "What's wrong?" I immediately asked. She looks at me, really looks at me. I can tell that whatever she's going to say, it's not something I want to hear.

"Soul, where are the kids?"

…Huh?

I drop my spoon, as I was still holding it. We don't have kids. We wanted kids, yes, but we don't have them. She's growing frantic now, she's pacing. She's pacing over non-existent kids.

Kids are a sensitive subject around here. Maka usually changes the subject quickly, and I don't look at her.

I walk over to her and grab her shoulders, making her face me. She's not crying, but her lip is quivering. She's scared. I look her in the eyes. She's not kidding. She's serious. She thinks we have kids and she thinks that they're missing.

Her mind is creating things now. First, it's making her forget things, and now it's making stuff up?

"Where are they?" She asks, her voice getting quiet. I shake my head, and lead her to the couch in the other room. I can't bear it. I'm about to go through this whole thing again. The tears. The agony. And there's no doctor here this time.

We sit down. I face her, taking her hands. She's trembling. I hesitate. How am I supposed to tell her? I don't think I'll be able to bear it. But I have to. There's no other choice here. She's going to be hurt either way.

"Maka. We don't have kids." I tell her, and she shakes her head. "Of course we do, Soul, what are you talking about?" She says, but I can tell that not even she thinks what she's saying is true. Now I shake my head.

"No, Maka. We don't have kids. _You are infertile._ It's impossible for us to have kids."

Here goes. The tears stream from Maka's eyes. She falls and cries into my shirt. I hug her and don't let go. This is painful for me, too. I'm reliving the past. I still remember that day a few years ago, at the doctor's office. I remember it as one of the worst days of my life, and some of the most painful days to follow.

_It was a dream to die for. After a few years of being settled into our new home, we both agreed that we should start a family, like a few of our friends had. Our hopes were high as we sat in that hospital waiting room. Maka had taken a few tests some weeks ago, and we spent all our spare time making a spare bedroom into a child's room and deciding on a name for both genders. _

"_We have to come up with a name soon," I told her, her hand on my knee as we waited. She was so excited, and she smiled. "We should name it Soul if it's a boy." She suggested, but I shook my head. "No, I don't want him to be named after me. I want him to have his own name." I said, smiling. She shrugged, looking around the room. She saw another couple expecting, and they smiled at each other. She bounced in her seat, waiting to get her results._

_Finally, they called our names. "Mr. and Mrs. Evans, we will see you now." The doctor said as he opened the door, Maka eagerly rising to her feet. She tugged on my sleeve and I followed, a bit nervous. The patients in the waiting room laughed and smiled at her excitement, and wished me luck on the way inside. One man with a little boy told me not to faint. _

_But when we got in the room, there was a solemn silence from the doctor. He seemed disappointed and sympathetic. Maka still smiled at him._

_He sighed. "I'm really sorry, Mr. and Mrs. Evans. I wish I didn't have to tell you this, but the results from Mrs. Evans' test have shown that she will not be able to have children. I'm so sorry." He said. The news sunk into Maka and she slunk down in her seat. I nearly fell to my knees, at least, I wanted to, but I stood, gripping Maka's shoulder for comfort. She needed it more than I did. Her face had turned paper white, and she slowly leaned forward. She couldn't help it; she buried her face in her hands and wept bitterly._

_Maka hardly cries, at least, when she was this old, she hardly cried. As of late, she's been very sensitive. At this time, she was a very strong person. But to see her so heart-broken, so weak, so defeated like this… It was awful. And it felt even worse knowing that I couldn't do anything to help her. I held on to her shoulders. "It's okay, Maka. It's okay." I told her, but it was no use. Maka was broken._

_The doctor told us that it was okay to leave. I thanked him although he had done nothing for us, and led Maka down the hall again. When we walked into the waiting room again and the other patients saw a previously happy couple, now with one crying and the other trying to hopelessly comfort her, a few whispered that they were sorry to me. In fact, the other woman who was expecting started crying when she saw Maka._

_The next few weeks were painful for us, especially Maka. She wanted to have children for the longest time. She wanted it as badly as I wanted to be a Death Scythe. _

_It hurt knowing that there would be no little boy to fish or play baseball with, no little girl to play house with her dolls, no young man to teach how to fix a car, no young lady to make beautiful for her senior prom, and worst of all, at the end there would be no one to escort down the aisle for them to have a family and start the cycle all over again. Maka cried for days and I wasn't much better. I didn't cry, but I didn't have the heart to speak with anyone other than Maka. _

_The others tried to comfort us. Maka solely confided in me and Crona. She didn't speak to anyone else for weeks. Crona even had to live with us for a little while. _

But we learned that we shouldn't keep crying forever. And now here we are again, at square one. I can't let all that happen again. We have to keep moving forward.

Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.

Or so I've heard.

* * *

_Do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger men._

-John F. Kennedy


	6. Accident

**A/N: Sad chapter, very, very sad.**

* * *

_As he begins to raise his voice_

_You lower yours, grant him one last choice_

_Drive until you lose the road_

_Or break with the ones you've followed_

* * *

Maka wanted to try something new today. She wanted to see if she could do some things on her own. It's been a while since the child dilemma, and she's tried her best to get over it. I'm proud of her for trying to be strong. I can tell that she's still a little upset over it.

So she made breakfast today. Under my supervision, of course. I couldn't have her burning down our house. So she made slightly burned pancakes. They were still really good, and I forgot what her cooking tasted like. It's a lot better than mine, I can tell you that.

After that, she cleaned. She vacuumed, and washed the dishes, she did the laundry. It was nice to sit down and relax for once. The last time she worked this hard was when she was 23. Quite a while back. I've been working myself too hard, I realize. She's really happy to finally be doing something useful, and she's really giddy all day. It's nice, to say the least.

By the time Maka has to leave to work, I grab the keys and get ready to drive her. I don't trust her with the car. I'll trust her with everything else, I promise, but not the car. Not the car.

She shakes her head, and holds out her hands. She wants to drive. I'm not letting her. "No," I say, and she frowns. "Come on, give it. Trust me." She says, putting a hand on her hip. I shake my head no. "I _do _trust you, Maka. I'll drive you. Come on, get in the car." I say, and she scowls now. "If you trusted me, you'd give me the car keys! If you trusted me, you wouldn't be treating me like a five year old! I'm a grown woman, Soul! I'm 28 years old! Why do you treat me like a little kid?" She starts to raise her voice. I lower mine. "I don't want to lose you." I say quietly. She scoffs.

"Lose me? Grow up, Soul. I have a driver's license. I passed my driving test! You're not gonna lose me. Now if you'll excuse me," She says, grabbing the keys from my hand while I'm distracted. "I have to go to work. Make a living. Unless you think I'm too young for that, too?" She says, walking towards the front door. I grab her arm. I really, really don't want her to go. "I'm trying to help you, Maka. You remember what happened three years ago, when you were coming back from Liz's house! You nearly died!" I shout the last word louder than I expected. She's struggling to get out of my grip. "I'm not going to let that happen again." I say, quieter.

She kicks me in the shin, and I let go of her arm. She turns to walk out the door. "Now you're acting like a child!" I say, and I get silence from her. Her back is still turned to me. "I can handle myself. And if you think that I can't," She says, shouting. "Then you might as well get a new partner and a new wife. Because you obviously don't know me." With that, she walks out.

I run to the window. I'm furious. I'm trying to help her, and she's gonna act like a little brat? I don't bother going out to follow her. Let her get what's coming. Why should I care? I tried to help her, but she obviously didn't want it. She better not say that I didn't tell her so. I watch her drive off, and I can tell that she's mad, too.

I angrily grab the phone off the hook. I need to do some serious ranting. But I stop when I lift my index finger and bring the phone to my ear.

Who can I call? Black Star won't be much help, and he'll get mad at one of us. Tsubaki is a good friend of Maka's, so she's out. Kid wouldn't listen. Crona is another good friend of Maka's. Patty wouldn't get it. Maybe Liz, but she'd tell everyone, no doubt about it. I don't have any other friends. So who on earth can I talk to…?

I hang up the phone. I'm so mad at this point, I go to the piano. What I play is a whole jumble of random, angry notes. I don't care. I don't care about how it sounds, I don't care about my friends, I don't care about Maka. Especially not Maka. I couldn't care less about her. Let her get into an accident or completely lost. But she'd better not come crying to me.

A few people call. I didn't answer, but I got a call from Tsubaki, Liz, and surprisingly, Maka. Tsubaki and Liz ask if we can go out to dinner with everyone, but then I listen to Maka's. I'm a bit calmer by now. I wonder if she decided to apologize. A small part of me deep inside feels guilty about treating her like a little kid. I should have at least let her drive but went in the car with her. Just to make sure she's safe. Why am I such an idiot?

"Hi, Soul. It's Maka. I'm working overtime today, so I'll be coming home late. Don't bother coming to get me. I've got the car. Bye." She says coldly, and hangs up. I sigh. Great, now I'm really starting to feel guilty. I can tell she's still pissed at me. She didn't even bother trying to hide it. She hates me. I can tell. I can't help but feel like I deserve it.

I sigh again. I don't know when she's coming home since she didn't specify it, but I can tell it's not going to be for a while. I consider calling Tsubaki and Liz back, but I need to work something out with Maka first and I'm too flustered to talk to them right now. So I decide to cook instead. I'm kind of hungry, anyway. And maybe Maka will see this as an apology if it's really good.

I feel really bad about how I yelled at her, how I misjudged her. She's strong, so why was I so worried? Not even I get it. She's held her own plenty times before. It's just because of this stupid disorder that she has that I'm not having confidence in her. I feel so stupid. I just want to apologize, but I know I can't call her. I have to tell her face-to-face. As I finish cooking, I wrap a portion in plastic for Maka and eat my share. It's bland. It doesn't taste very good, and I'm bored and a bit lonely. I notice that it's getting dark out when I take my plate to the sink, and I decide to turn in early. I leave a note for Maka at the front door, telling her that there's dinner for her on the counter in the kitchen.

Climbing into bed, I think out a way to apologize. But I haven't been sleeping very well lately, so I fall asleep earlier than I expected. I didn't dream, I normally don't have dreams. I just fall asleep and wake up. I like it better that way.

But something's odd. When I wake up, Maka's not there. I usually wake up before her to crush her pills, but her side of the bed is untouched. I shrug, figuring that maybe she's trying to make breakfast. Going into the kitchen, I find it empty. I also see that Maka's dinner is still wrapped in plastic on the counter. She hasn't touched it. It doesn't even look like she's been in here at all recently.

I admit, I'm slightly worried by this point. Unless she was infuriated with me, she would've left me a note or something. But there's nothing here. No sign that she ever came home yet. I pick up the phone and dial her number with uncertainty. What if she really does hate me? What if she ran away to live with someone else like Kami or Spirit or Tsubaki? But I shake the thought away. She hates Spirit, and she wouldn't want to burden Tsubaki. She doesn't even remember who Kami is.

That's when it hits me. What if she's forgotten where we live again? I press the call button and bring the phone to my ear. I hear the dial tone, and about a minute later, I get her voicemail. Great. Now she's not picking up. I leave her a message.

"Maka, it's Soul. It's… 8:45 in the morning. Look, I'm really sorry if I made you really mad. Can you come home so we can talk about it? Call me back. Love you. Bye."

I try dialing again, but with no success. I leave another message, hoping that maybe she'll listen and decide to come home and forgive me.

"Hi, Maka, it's Soul again. Why aren't you answering your phone? Where are you? Call me back, soon. Love you."

I end it there.

Two hours later, after eating breakfast and getting ready for the day, Maka still hasn't called me back. Now the fear is starting to set in. If something bad happened, I don't know what I'd do to myself. I call again.

"Maka, where are you? Please answer, please pick up. I'm sorry, okay? I'm sorry for misjudging you, and for treating you like a child. Can you just come home so I can apologize properly? You're scaring me. That's not cool. Please come home. Love you."

I'm pacing. I never pace. I'm a pretty cool guy. But when she's not answering me like this, when she's ignoring me, I can't help but get a little worried. But it's more than that. By this point, it's a full-blown panic. I just want her to come home.

I try again, but I should figure by now that if she hasn't answered me the last three times, she won't answer this time. But I try in vain to see if she'll pick up and give me an answer.

"Pick up your phone. I'm really worried, Maka. Where are you? Why haven't you come home yet? Why won't you pick up? Please, please, please answer me. I love you."

I turn on the news to try and distract myself. I don't want to talk to anyone else. I just want to know where Maka is. But I can't calm down. I can't stop worrying. It's just like the night she got lost on the way home for Liz's house again. But for some reason, I feel like it's much more severe this time. I have no idea why, but I do. I just do.

Finally, finally I get a call. But it's not from Maka.

It's from the hospital.

I pick up with shaky hands.

"…Hello?" I say into the phone. I hear a young woman on the other end. "Good morning, sir. May I please speak to Mr. Evans?" She asks, and my hands are sweaty. "This is him." I say. I have no idea where this is going.

"Your wife is in the emergency room. She was in a severe car accident and her condition is unstable. We would like you to come and visit her."

I nearly drop the phone. I nearly faint. I nearly fall to my knees. But my legs only tremble. Maka's in the emergency room. Maka forgot how to drive. Maka was in an accident. Maka's not good. Maka might die.

No, get that last thought out of your head. She's not going to die. I won't let her. "Sir…?" I hear the woman say after my long pause. I clear my throat. "I'm coming to see her right now." I say, and she thanks me and hangs up. I grab my coat and house keys. I lock the door behind me. Maka has our car, so I'm forced to walk. At least the hospital isn't too far away from here. I walk at first, but as I grow more frantic I break into a run.

When I get to the hospital, there's a nurse waiting for me. When I confirm that, yes, I am Mr. Evans and Maka's husband, she has me sit in the waiting room. I find my phone in my coat pocket. I do the only thing I can and call Kami and Spirit. Both turn out to be out of the country, but both are frantic. They promise to be back as soon as possible. I feel terrible. I've never felt so alone.

I never got to say I was sorry.

* * *

_Where did I go wrong, I lost a friend._

_Somewhere along in the bitterness_

_And I would have stayed up with you all night_

_Had I known how to save a life._

-The Fray, How to Save a Life


	7. Waiting

_I've got a tight grip on reality_

_But I can't_

_Let go of what's in front of me here_

* * *

I hate waiting. I hate waiting more than anything else in this world.

I'm sitting there. I'm just sitting there for hours, not knowing what to expect, what to do, how I should be reacting, when or even if Maka is coming home, if she'll be okay, and if she'll even talk to me ever again.

I know that this is my fault. I didn't try hard enough when I was keeping the keys away from her, and I was submissive to my anger. I let her leave because of a stupid emotion I felt for two seconds. And now because of my choice, Maka has to suffer. I just keep hurting people. And it's all my fault, all my fault.

I see lots of patients come and go. Some are hysterical, others are angry; one even hyperventilates and has to be taken to a small room. There's an old man taken by a stretcher into a close room, and what I'm assuming is his family is right behind him. They're worried, and I just watch. At least we share a mutual feeling. They sit in the empty seats next to mine, and I take my coat off the other chair to allow a little girl to sit next to me. She has tears in her eyes, and while her mother is talking on the phone, she turns to me. I simply look down at her.

"My grandpa got into an accident. Momma says that he's not gonna make it." She says, and I feel genuine sorrow for this little girl, because I know what it must feel like. And it must be so much worse at a young age. I nod.

"I'm so sorry. My wife got into an accident. I've been here for hours. It's okay. I know how you feel." I say, and she grabs my hand. We both stare straight ahead, and when the mother gets off the phone, handkerchief in hand and tears in her eyes, she smiles and thanks me.

Maybe another hour later, a man in white scrubs steps into the waiting room. "Mr. Soul Evans, here for Mrs. Maka Evans, please come to the front." I have no idea what to expect, but the little girl squeezes my hand, giving me the tiniest inkling of hope. The doctor takes me into the hallway, where we have privacy. I can't tell what he's thinking.

"We have her stabilized." He says, and I assume that it's good news. "She is currently in a coma." He tells me. I sigh, closing my eyes. I can't let my emotions take over me again. We already saw what that's led to. "Can I see her?" I ask. He fiddles with a clipboard in his hands. "I don't know if it would be very pleasant. We have no idea how long she may be out." I tsk. "Yeah, whatever. Let me see her. Please." I try not to sound like too much of an asshole, but shouldn't this guy know what it must feel like to be me? I mean, what does he expect me to do, say "okay" and walk home? Yeah, I don't think so.

He nods slowly and walks me down the hall. He informs me a little bit on the way there. "She has slight trauma to her brain, but I don't think it will affect her. She may have slight memory issues, but not too much." He says, and I stop. "Doctor," I say, and he turns. "I don't know if you know this, but Maka has memory problems. She's had them for a while now. Do you think it's gonna affect her in any way?" I ask, and he lifts a brow. "That is an excellent question. How long has she had problems, and did you see a doctor for it?" He asks, and I think. "Yes, we've seen a doctor. She takes pills in the morning. And it's been a few years now. I've lost count." I say and he nods, taking a note on his clipboard. "Okay. She may have slight amnesia when she wakes up. If her problems were really bad, she may not remember anything." He says. I swallow, nodding he leads me to her room. He opens the door, and I peer inside. And right there ahead of me is my lovely wife.

I walk up to the side of her bed, and look at her sleeping form. She's hardly recognizable, but it's her. Her hair has been put up in a bun. Her skin is pale and icy cold to the touch. She has IV needles in her arms, and a screen monitoring her heart rate. She looks like porcelain, and I'm afraid I'll break her if I touch her.

I take her hand, and close my eyes. I don't know how I'll be able to live with myself, knowing I did this to her. I let this happen. I'm such an idiot, a horrible person. The doctor says I can only stay in here for a few minutes, since they need to run a few more tests on her, and they don't want her contracting anything while she's in this state.

She looks so peaceful. Like she's only taking a nap and she'll wake up, ready to go to work and see all the children that care so much about her. I don't know how they'll react, but I know I'm going to have to tell Kid so that he'll get a replacement teacher for her. I realize that I'm going to have to tell everyone, and I have no idea how they'll react.

The doctor sends me out, telling me to come back tomorrow. When I get to the waiting room, the little girl looks up at me with wide eyes. I smile lightly, probably the tiniest smile in existence, but she gets it. She's okay, but at the same time, she's not. She stops me when I walk past her. "Did the doctor say that it was Mrs. Evans?" She asks, and I nod. "She's my teacher." She says, and I make a noise of understanding. She looks down at her feet. "She's so nice, and I can tell you really care about her. I hope she gets better." She says. I nod. "Thank you. I hope your grandfather is okay." I say, and she lets go of my hand. I turn and walk out of the hospital.

On my walk home, I think of how everyone will react. Black Star and Patty probably wouldn't say anything, or maybe Black Star will be mad at me. Kid will offer his condolences, but probably will not say much else. Liz will be sorrowful, maybe mad. If anyone's going to cry, it's going to be either Tsubaki or Crona. Maybe both.

I call Kid when I get home. He's going to need to get a replacement teacher, so it's important he knows.

"Good evening, you've reached Death's household. How may I be of service?" I hear him say, and it takes all my efforts not to laugh at how formal he is. "Hi, Kid. It's Soul." I say, and he drops the formal attitude. "Oh, hello Soul. What was it you needed? Why was Maka not present today?" He asks, and I clear my throat. "Maka is in the hospital. She got into an accident coming home from work yesterday. So you're going to need a replacement teacher for her." I say. Kid is silent for a little while. "…Oh. I see. Well, this is… unexpected. I will get a replacement for her. Is she okay? Are _you _okay?" He asks, and I sigh.

"I don't know, Kid. She's in a coma and I've been in a waiting room all day. I don't know what I'll do." I confess. "Things will be better eventually. I'll tell the others for you if you'd like. I know it must be painful for you to speak about it." He says. I lean back. At least he's not emotionless. "That'd be great, Kid. Thanks. I'll see you later." I say, and he says goodbye. We hang up. I fall asleep on the couch that night. I don't have the courage to go to our bed if Maka's not going to be there with me.

Maybe the dream will end soon, and I can go back to living with Maka. Until then, I'll have to make do with this horrible nightmare.

* * *

_I know you're leaving in the morning when you wake up_

_Leave me with some kind of proof it's not a dream._

-Paramore, The Only Exception


	8. Sympathy

_And if all the flowers faded away_

_And if all the storm clouds decided to stay_

_Then you would find me_

_Each hour the same_

_Cause she is tomorrow_

_And I am today_

* * *

I've been visiting Maka every day. The doctors are starting to anticipate my visits, and a few even know my name now. I hardly sleep anymore. How can I when I know I've caused all of this?

Tsubaki's replaced Maka as a teacher while she's out. When she was told, she cried, just as I predicted. Black Star had been mad at the driver who hit Maka, although we don't know who it was. Liz and Patty were saddened, and they both promised to try and cheer me up. Crona surprisingly stayed strong and didn't cry, but I could tell that the news broke her inside. At least we share a mutual feeling. I never noticed how alike the two of us are.

Maka's students were told that she had gone on vacation, but the little girl at the office the day it happened told everyone the truth. A few of them cried, and even Tsubaki joined in. I was told that it was a very depressing scene, thank God I wasn't there.

I've been playing piano a lot more recently. It gives me something to do after the doctors tell me that I should go home. Besides, I don't want to resort to drinking or curling up on the sofa with a tub of ice cream watching soap-operas. Yeah, that ain't happening.

So Black Star and Tsubaki came to my house yesterday. But I wasn't there, I was with Maka all day. It's my routine. I get up, get dressed, walk to Death Bucks and get breakfast to eat during my walk to the hospital. I get home very late at night. So they left me a note on my doorstep when I got home at midnight, telling me that they would try to visit Maka tomorrow. I felt bad and wanted to call them back to say I was sorry for missing them, but it was late so I figured that at least Tsubaki and the kids would be asleep.

They were true to their word and showed up at the hospital today. I was sitting next to Maka, looking at all the things around the room and out the window, listening to the doctors in the hall and the monitors beeping. It was very unsettling.

Then I heard Black Star shouting down the hall, and I recognized his voice immediately. I heard his footsteps, and stood up so that he couldn't try to shake Maka awake like he tried to do for me once. He ran into the room and crashed into me, grinning like an idiot. "Hey, Soul! What's happenin'? Other than, 'ya know, Maka and all." He said, in an attempt to cheer me up. Tsubaki ran into the room seconds later, accompanied by some nurses. Tsubaki apologized to me and the nurses while Black Star stared at Maka. I sighed. It reminded me of the time after Maka, Crona and I fought the golem in the Czech Republic and Black Star drew on her face while she was immobile. Except for the fact that Maka had been conscious back then.

Black Star sighed and patted my shoulder. I guess he was trying to be serious. For once. "It'll be okay, Soul. She'll come-to eventually. She's pretty strong. Almost as strong as I am! But not quite." He said, grinning. I couldn't help but chuckle, and the nurses had finally left the room Tsubaki approached Maka's bedside.

She sniffed, and Black Star patted her pretty roughly on the back. She buried her face in her hands. "Oh, I can't stand to see her like this! She's o- one of my best friends, and… and… Oh, I'm so sorry, Soul! I really, really am!" She sobbed, and Black Star gave me a guilty look. "It's okay, Tsubaki. It's not your fault. If anyone's, it's mine. And Black Star, I don't think you're very good at trying to comfort people." I say, and Tsubaki takes deep breaths. Black Star chuckles.

"Did the doctors say anything about her recovering?" Tsubaki asks, wiping her eyes, and I shrug. "Not really. They said that if she does, though, she may have amnesia." I say, careful to avoid her gaze. She makes a small noise of understanding, and looks down at Maka once more. "What about Spirit and Kami? How did they react?" She asks, and I sigh. "They're both out of the country, but both panicked when I told them. They said that they were gonna be here as soon as possible, but I have no idea when that will be." I reply, and she nods. They take two seats and put them down next to mine, just taking in the scene. It's unusually quiet, since Black Star hardly ever shuts up.

Just then, I get a call. I go into the hallway and answer it. It turns out to be Liz.

"Hey, Liz." I say, and I can hear Patty talking in the background. "Hey. Listen, can we come to visit Maka? Now's really the only time we're both free." She says. "Yeah, of course." I say. "Great. We'll be there in a few. See you later," She says, and we hang up. I go back into the room to see Black Star staring out the window, and Tsubaki silently staring at Maka. "Who was that?" Black Star asks, and I take my seat again. "Liz. She and Patty are coming to see Maka." I answer, and he nods, excited. "I'll wait in the lobby for them." He says, running out the door. Tsubaki sighs.

Maybe 15 minutes later, Black Star comes in the room again with Liz and Patty following closely behind him. Liz says hi to all of us, and leads Patty over to Maka. Patty has on a slight pout, and Liz sighs. "Wow. I'm really sorry, Soul. This must be hard for you. I can only imagine how you feel." Liz says sympathetically, and Patty's silent as she pulls up another chair. Liz and Tsubaki quietly chat, while Black Star and I discuss things and Patty explores the room. She hasn't changed much. When it gets late, they all leave, saying they'll be back soon. I sure hope they will.

I leave an hour after they do, wishing Maka another safe night. If only she could see how many people care about her. Maybe then she'd decide to wake up. She'd open her eyes and see.

* * *

'_Cause if right is leaving,_

_I'd rather be wrong._

'_Cause she is the sunlight_

_The sun is gone._

_-_Trading Yesterday, She is the Sunlight


	9. Awake

**A/N: This is a bittersweet chapter. It is also written in ****Maka's perspective****, so I think you can predict what will happen. I have to be honest; this was a funner chapter to write, just because it's so different from the rest.**

**Remember to review!**

* * *

_And you can't fight the tears that ain't coming,_

_Or the moment of truth in your lies._

_When everything feels like the movies,_

_Yeah, you'd bleed just to know you're alive._

* * *

What I remember is being asleep for a week. Eyes crusted closed, limbs too heavy to lift, and I slept. I slept and slept until I couldn't sleep another minute.

Then, I woke up.

And all I can feel, all I can fathom was pain.

Pain.

Let's see.

Pain: A somatic sensation of acute discomfort; a symptom of some physical hurt or disorder, I remind myself.

At least, that's what I think pain is. I don't quite remember.

Well, if it is, then it's what I'm feeling. It's everything at this very moment. It engulfs my entire being: my body, my mind. All is pain. Pain is all.

I open my eyes.

It's dark. It's too dark for me to see. My eyelids ache from disuse, and there is a pounding, throbbing sensation in my skull. It's too much for me. I don't think I can handle it.

Why does that sound familiar?

When my eyes adjust to the darkness, I see a white ceiling above me, a hospital gown on me (That's where I am, right? A hospital?) And many other various things. A window, shut, with the curtains drawn, a screen, which I assume is monitoring my… heart rate? Yes, I think that's what it does. And a chair next to my… bed. Yes, it's a bed.

Oh? What's this?

There is a man leaning back in the chair. I can't see his face, but he's making a weird raspy noise. That's snoring, I remind myself. So, from what I can conclude, I think he's asleep.

I don't know why, but watching him comforts me. Maybe I know him. But I don't know much, to be honest. I don't even know who I am.

Am I even alive?

Yes, I am. If I weren't, I wouldn't be in this much pain.

I shut my eyes again. The darkness provides me comfort. And slowly, slowly, I find myself drifting off, fading away. I can't even feel the pain anymore. I just feel the warm waters and gentle current of a river. Warm and gentle and dark.

* * *

Voices.

It's all I hear, besides this loud ringing in my ears.

Some are loud, others are quiet. There's someone, a young man, whose voice is way too loud for me to be comfortable. It's almost as if he's screaming. There's also a girl giggling. It's kind of annoying. I like the quieter voices. I think they're girls. One of them sounds very familiar to me. But as for the rest, I have no idea.

I don't think I'm awake. I think I'm still sleeping, but some things are seeping in. I can't move and I can't think. I can't do anything but listen to these voices. Are they even real, I wonder? I have no idea. I just listen. It's all I can do.

Some voices die down, and I can hear some more distinct conversations now.

"…When she'll wake up…" Says the quiet voice.

Who are they talking about? I struggle to open my eyes again, to do something, but I can't. All I can do is listen.

"…Pull through, I know it. She…" Says a firm voice.

Are they talking about me? I'm not pulling anything, so I assume that they aren't. I try to lift my arm. But I can't. I can't do anything but listen.

"…I can't handle seeing her like this…" Says the same quiet voice from before. I like it. It's comforting and soothing. She sounds so nice. I want to be friends with her. If only I could see her. "I'm going to try something." She says.

Suddenly, I can't hear the voices anymore. But what I can do is open my eyes. I can open my eyes and move. I sit up, trying to figure out where I am. It feels nice to stretch, to move. I don't think I've done it in a while. But it all feels sub-conscious. Like I'm asleep. If I am asleep, then I don't think I want to wake up anytime soon.

I'm in a desert. No, I'm sorry. That's wrong. I don't think it's a desert. It's more like… A beach. A beach without water. The water is called the ocean, I remind myself. I check my surroundings. I'm sitting in… sand. The sand has formed a circle around me. I look down at my lower torso.

I'm short. Why am I so short? I'm wearing a color. It's bright, and pretty. Oh, yes, I think it's called "red". I'm wearing a… skirt? No, a dress. It's a dress. I reach up and feel a strange, silky feeling on my fingertips. I think it's my hair.

It's then that I realize that I'm not alone. There's a child, just like me, sitting across from me. I think it's a girl. Yes, a girl. I feel like I know her. Maybe I do, maybe I don't. I think she's pretty. She has blue eyes, pink hair, and a black dress. Yes, she's pretty. I like her. I'd like to be her friend.

_What do you say? Will you let me be your friend, Crona? Please say you will. _

…_Really? But… I still don't know how to deal with other people!_

There's that voice again. The second one sounds so nice and comforting. But when I speak, I realize the first voice I heard was me, strange as it sounds.

"Crona?"

I like that name, I decide.

Just then, I realize:

I know Crona.

She's the girl sitting in front of me right now. I don't know how I know her, but I do. I know her. I know her! How glorious, how wonderful! I remembered!

An ocean comes rolling in, and the girl smiles. "Hello, Maka." She says. Yes, it was her. She's the voice. She sounds a bit younger, but it's her, alright.

Maka?

"Is that my name?" I ask. She nods, standing. She helps me up by holding out her hand for me to pull on. I look around. We're both in a circle. She goes over to where the line is drawn, and I think she'd going to erase it.

But I don't want her to!

"Wait!" I say, and she turns to face me. "Don't erase it! I like it, I feel safer when I'm inside the circle." I say. Somehow, this all feels familiar.

I know three things so far:

One, my name is Maka.

Two, I remember Crona. I don't remember much about her, but I know her. I just know.

Three, I really, really, really don't want her to erase that line.

"Don't be silly," She says, turning her back towards me again. "Look. It's so easy to erase." She says, pulling her foot back.

No!

With that circle gone, I know I'll wake up. But I don't want to wake up, I like it here.

I plead her to stop. But she doesn't.

When the circle's gone, she pats her hands on her dress. She turns to me and smiles.

"All gone." She says simply, then fades away.

Then I realize: I'm fading, too.

Then, with a final gust of wind, I wake up.

I just open my eyes, and I'm awake.

So many images come to me, and I can see. It's just like last time. But I'm not even sure if that was real or not. There's… six… no, seven people in the room right now. I recognize Crona, she's smiling at me. But I look at the rest of them, and I don't know them.

Who are they?

There's a man with stripes in his hair and he has golden eyes. Two girls looking very similar with blue eyes and blonde hair. There's Crona. There's a girl with purple eyes and a long ponytail of black hair. Believe it or not, there's a man with spiky blue hair and green eyes. But what intrigues me most is a man with white hair and red eyes. He's staring at me, eyes wide.

He looks mean. I don't think I like him.

"Oh. My. God. Patty, go get a doctor." One of the blondes say, and the shorter one runs out of the room. The man with white hair and red eyes smiles wide, and I see that he has pointy teeth.

I'm confused. What's wrong with him? Is he part shark? Shark have pointy teeth, right?

I look for a sign of recognition in any of them. But I don't see anything that rings a bell in anyone, only Crona. She's wiping her eyes. I don't know why. Is she crying?

"Don't cry," I say to her, and she looks up and smiles. She doesn't get to say anything else before the red eyed man is smothering me. His arms are wrapped around me and my face is over his shoulder and he's saying so many things. "Maka! Maka, don't scare me like that ever again! Oh my God, Maka, you're awake, I can't believe it! I'm sorry, I'm really sorry! But everything's gonna be okay now I promise and I'll protect you and everything'll be fine!" He says, and I am very, very uncomfortable. I try to shove him off, and succeed in doing so. Before anyone can say anything else, five doctors rush in the room and order them out. I look to Crona, willing her to stay. I want to be with someone I remember.

But she just smiles at me and leaves with the others. I'm sad when she closes the door behind her.

The doctor approaches me and I stare up at him. I don't know if I should be afraid or comforted. But truth be told, he seems very intimidating. He sits down and looks at a piece of paper. Then he looks at me again.

"Are you okay?" He asks. Hmm. Well, I don't know. Isn't that for him to decide? "I… guess…" I say, my voice cracking from disuse. He nods and looks at his paper again. "Do you remember any of those people?" He asks next, and I stare at the tile ceiling above me. "I only knew one of them. As for the rest of them, no. I don't remember any of them." I say, and he pushes on. "Which one?" He asks. "Crona. The one with pink hair." I say, and he nods, taking a note on his paper. "You don't remember the one with white hair?" He asks, and I shake my head. He turns his head to another doctor, and they exchange a glance before he takes another note. He turns to me again.

"Do you know anything about yourself?" He asks.

I try. I can't remember what my name was, I've forgotten it. I reach for the memory, for any recollection of something, something I can tell him; but nothing's there. Blank. Like an empty page.

"Nothing."

* * *

_And I don't want the world to see me,_

'_Cause I don't think that they'd understand._

_When everything's made to be broken,_

_I just want you to know who I am._

-The Goo Goo Dolls, Iris.

* * *

**Look, there's a blue button down there. I think you should press it. It makes me happy when you do.**


	10. Crona

**A/N: This came out later than I expected it to, so sorry about that. Happy father's day!**

**I'm really surprised at how many reviews last chapter got! Thanks you guys, you're all awesome. ouo**

**This chapter is written in Crona's perspective.**

* * *

_Two birds of a feather,_

_Say that they're always gonna stay together._

_But one's never going to let go of that wire._

_He says that he will,_

_But he's just a liar._

* * *

Maka seems different. It was odd that she pushed Soul off of her. He's a bit shocked, but Liz is trying to be reassuring. I don't think it's working very well. Soul thanks me a million times for helping Maka, Kid said he was proud of me, Patty's in awe, and Black Star's hollowly congratulating me. But I don't know why they think it's a big deal, all I did was match her soul's wavelength and look inside her soul to wake her up. It wasn't much, and anyone can do it. I was just the first one to think of it. I'm nothing special, honestly. I just wish they would stop treating me like a savior or something, because I'm not. I don't think I can deal with this.

We're told to sit in the waiting room. Soul's pacing, unsure if he should be happy or sad. On the bright side, Maka's awake and she's okay. But on the down side, she pushed him off and glared at everyone but me.

I sigh. Kid looks over to me. He was just busy adjusting his cloak (He wears the cloak often, but doesn't put the hood up or wear the mask. He likes to show off his now symmetrical Lines of Sanzu.) While he had Liz call our house to make sure Riley was taking care of her brother and sister. He lifts his eyebrows. "Something wrong?" He asks, and I shrug. But of course, knowing him, he prods on. "You can tell me, you know. If something's bothering you, just say it." He persuades, and I speak quietly. I don't want to worry anyone else.

"When I was with Maka, she asked me what her name was. She also glared at everyone when she woke up, and she pushed Soul off. I'm just worried that…" My voice trails off. I really don't want to say it, because I don't want it to be true. Kid is silent, which I've learned by now that this is his way of asking you to continue. He won't say anything, but he'll just stay silent. "…That she's… lost her memory…" I say, as quietly as possible. Kid nods, understanding. "Crona, right now, I don't want you to worry about that. Reassurance first, problems later. Okay?" He tells me, and I nod. We don't speak much after that. The waiting room is packed. It's so packed that Soul almost got into a fight with someone when he bumped into them from pacing.

I eventually give up my seat for a pregnant woman, and I'm standing now. The only ones who are sitting are Patty and Kid, and Kid gets up so that Tsubaki can have a turn. I think we've been standing here for an hour before Liz suggests we take a walk to get fresh air. Soul doesn't want to, and honestly, neither do I. But Liz insists, and when she insists, you have no choice but to do what she wants. So we all take a walk around the hospital. It's awkward, actually. Soul is stomping behind all of us, angry. I don't blame him much. I mean, if Kid were in the hospital and he just woke up, I'm not allowed to see him and now I have to walk around when I don't want to, I wouldn't know how to deal with it either.

Liz attempts to make small chat, but nobody is very interested in saying anything. Patty and Black Star are secretly giggling at the back of the group, and Soul snaps at them. It's then that Liz decides that we should go back inside. When we walk back inside, a doctor who was in Maka's room before motions for us to come over to him. Soul nearly knocks over a few people running over to him, and the doctor signals me out. Kid gives me a reassuring push, and Soul looks at me with pleading eyes. I guess he wants me to tell him what the doctor is going to say. I nod at him, telling him that I will, and they watch me walk off alone. I admit that I'm nervous, because my knees are knocking together. He takes me into a small room that is empty and tells me to sit, while he sits in the chair across from mine.

"You're Crona, correct?" He asks, and I nod, biting my bottom lip slightly. I hope I haven't done anything wrong. When he assures me that I haven't, he sighs and holds out his clipboard.

"Ms. Evans has amnesia." He says, sounding sympathetic. I look down at my hands. "So… She… C- can't remember anything?" I ask, upset. Who wouldn't be upset if your best friend who saved your life didn't even remember who you were? I'm not too sure I can deal with this.

But the doctor taps on his clipboard a bit. "Well, almost. You see, Maka doesn't remember anything about her life. She doesn't know who she is and she doesn't know who any of her friends are. But," He says, looking at me. "She does remember who you are."

The doctor (who I should really learn what his name is.) takes me to Maka's room to see if she can get a sign of remembrance from seeing me. I take a deep breath and enter the room, the doctor following closely behind me. When I enter, Maka is reading a book. She puts in a bookmark when I sit in the chair next to her bed and looks at me. When she makes eye contact with me, her face instantly lights up into a smile. "Hello, Crona. How are you?" She asks, as if nothing's wrong.

But the problem is; everything's wrong.

And it's then that I realize:

If I'm the only one that Maka remembers…

That means that her entire recovery from amnesia, if she even is to ever regain her memories again, all rests on my shoulders. It's all up to me.

Normally, I wouldn't be able to deal with this.

But this is Maka.

And for Maka, I'll be able to deal with anything.

* * *

_Two birds on a wire,_

_One tries to fly away, and the other_

_Watches him close from that wire_

_He says he wants to as well,_

_But he is a liar._

_-_Regina Spektor, Two Birds

* * *

**Magical things happen when you click the blue button down there, so I suggest that you do so.**


	11. Truth

**A/N: Sorry for the really delayed update! I had writer's block, vacation, work, etc. But hopefully I can get back on track with this. I apologize for making you all wait so long for such a short chapter that probably sucks.**

**Please remember to review! Reviews make me write the next chapter faster. They also make me happy.**

**I also recently watched The Lorax, which is why I have Dr. Seuss quotes for this chapter instead of a song XD**

* * *

"_A person's a person, no matter how small."_

-Dr. Seuss, _Horton Hears a Who!_

* * *

When Crona comes back to join us in the waiting room, she has a somber look on her face. I don't really want to know why, but of course, at the same time, I have to know. I stand. "Crona, what did the doctor say?" I ask, and she gives me a sad glance and sits in an empty chair. She takes a long breath and starts. "Well… The doctor told m-me that she… she doesn't remember anything. She doesn't remember who she is or who you are. But, for some reason, the only thing she remembers is me." She says, her voice shaking. I fall back and slump in my chair, taking in what she told me. Somehow, the words just don't seem to seep in the way they should. I just can't believe any of it. I mean, she has to be lying.

Right?

"You're lying. You're lying." I say. Most of the waiting room is cleared out by now. But Crona just looks at me again with that grim look on her face, the one that seems to tell me that this is the cold, hard truth. Black Star looks at me annoyed. "Yes, Soul. Of course she's lying. We're all playing a huge practical joke on you. Seriously! Toughen up! " He retorts sarcastically. I glare at him. "You expect me to SIT HERE with the knowledge that MY GOD DAMNED WIFE DOESN'T KNOW WHO I AM? Besides, how would I even be able to face her, let alone help her? I don't think I can, I'm too small and insignificant. What good can a single small person do?" I say, and Black Star makes a move to reply before Tsubaki gives him a glance, telling him to be quiet, and turns to me with a sympathetic look frozen onto her face.

"What he means to say is," She starts, and wrings her hands together. "Soul… If you sit there and try to deny the fact that Maka isn't going to get better without your help, then she won't ever get better. You have to face the facts, and do all that you can to make sure that Maka can get past this and remember you. If you sit here and whine, nothing is going to change. So take action, Soul! We're all here to help you through this, both you and Maka. We all care so much. But we can only do so much if you decide to do nothing. Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better." She says, grabbing my shoulders. "It's not." She finishes, and everyone else is silent, waiting for my reply.

* * *

The doctor leads us all slowly down the hall to where Maka's room is. Tsubaki faithfully stays by my side while the others lag behind a little bit, nervous, upset, or mad at me. I don't know if I'll be able to thank Tsubaki for all her support.

We all talked for about 20 minutes after Tsubaki's little pep-talk, deciding how we would go about helping Maka. We decided that Crona would introduce us to her as just friends. She'll tell Maka that I'm her roommate and that she'll be staying with me. When Maka comes home, I'll have to sleep in the guest room rather than in our room, just to make things more comfortable. And when Maka finally remembers, everything will go back to normal. That's how we're hoping it goes, anyway. But I'm having doubts, and I'm sure everyone else is, too. But none of us say anything out loud, because none of us want to talk about it. And I'm grateful for that.

When the doctor stops us outside the door, we decide to visit Maka one by one. I'm nervous and I want to think about what I'm going to say first, so I let Tsubaki go in front of me. After Tsubaki, Black Star goes, then Kid, then Liz and Patty, and Crona skips her turn since she's already visited Maka and she feels like I should get a chance to visit her. I understand why she skipped her turn, but it doesn't help to settle my nerves. With a push of reassurance from Tsubaki, and I grin of mixed comfort and sympathy from Liz, I walk into Maka's room and shut the door behind me. Waiting ahead is my wife, who doesn't know she's my wife, reading the blurb of a book. She glances up at me and puts it on the table next to her, crossing her arms. I slowly take the seat of the chair that's sitting next to her bed. I take a deep breath and begin.

"Hi, Maka. How are you feeling?" I ask gently.

"Who are you?" She asks bitterly, with a hard look in her eyes.

* * *

"_Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not."_

-Dr. Seuss, _The Lorax_


	12. Visit

**A/N: Why do I only get the motivation to write for this story at 2 in the morning? ene**

**Please remember to review! Reviews make me happy. They also make me write the next chapter faster.**

* * *

_But you can't jump the track,_

_We're like cars on a cable._

_And life's like an hourglass,_

_Glued to the table._

* * *

Her question makes me cringe and look away from her. I know she's mad for how I reacted before and she doesn't know who I am, but I don't think she has a right to act so bitterly towards me. But I have to stay calm and keep patient. I force myself to smile, something I haven't done in weeks, and turn to face her.

"I didn't really introduce myself the way I should have before. My name is Soul Evans." I say, and there is no change in her expression. She just lightly brushes the fabric on the sheet surrounding her. "…My name is Maka Albarn. But you already knew that, didn't you? Why did you clobber me before?" She asks. It's just like when I first met her. She can be very nosy and seem demanding. It took us ages to finally act nicely to each other. Even then we had our arguments.

"Yeah, I did know that. You and I are… good friends. We're actually room-mates. So you'll be living with me after you get out of here." I say, almost cheerfully. She stares at me for a moment before sinking down slightly into the bed. "…Really? What about Crona?" She asks, and I wring my hands together nervously. "Well, Crona is married and has children. We don't have a guestroom, either. But if you really want her to stay with us for a day or two, I can ask her if she wants to sleep on our couch or in your room," I offer, and she nods. "That'd be nice." She says, turning to look out of the window.

I tap my fingers together lightly. "…I'm sorry about… jumping on you before. It's just that I was so happy to see you, and I… I didn't think you'd wake up. So I was just so excited that you were awake. I couldn't control myself. But Maka," I say, and she turns back to me. "Please don't scare me like that again. It wasn't cool." I ask, and she bites her lip, looking down. "Why do you care so much? We're just friends, aren't we?" She asks, and I close my eyes. If only she knew that we were so much more than just friends.

"I've known you for so long. And I owe my life to you. So I just don't want to see you go anytime soon." I say. She taps her fingers together. "Look, um, I don't want to be rude, but… I'd really like to finish my book. You see, I've just gotten into reading. Can you hand me that?" She asks, pointing to the book. I nod and hand it to her. "It's a good book, then? What're you reading?" I ask, and she looks down at it. "I can't say it for myself yet. The speech comes out weird." She says. I nod, since I noticed she's been speaking really slowly ever since I got in here. She turns toward me, and closes her eyes briefly before asking me a question.

"Hey, um, Soul, is it?" She asks, and I nod. "Listen, you'll help me get back on my feet, right?" She asks, and I smile. "Yeah, absolutely." I say, and she nods, looking back down at her book. "Okay. You can leave now." She says, and I nod, slowly standing up. "Well… See you tomorrow, Maka." I say, and she nods. Somehow, I get the feeling she's not looking forward to seeing me tomorrow.

I turn back to look at her one last time before I leave. She's already started reading her book again. Great. Sighing, I turn the knob on the door and am greeted by our little group. I'm bombarded by questions, particularly the one that goes "How did it go?" I lie and say it went great, and try to pretend that Maka doesn't hate my guts. I seem to fool them, and they say that everything will go back to normal soon.

I tap Crona on the shoulder and she turns. I tell her that she should go talk to Maka about staying at our house, since it's what would make Maka more comfortable. First, she and Kid talked it over, and Crona went into the room to speak with Maka. When she came back out, Crona said that she'd stay with us for five days after Maka was discharged from the hospital. I agreed, and said that she'd probably have to stay on the couch. She said she was fine with it. She was used to sleeping in much worse places as a child.

When it gets late, we all go our separate ways. Black Star tells me he's sorry about snapping at me before, and of course I forgive him. Everyone else tries to cheer me up with words of encouragement. And Tsubaki says that I was a good sport. I sigh as I watch them all get into their cars and leave me here. Tsubaki and Black Star offered me a ride home when everyone else had left, but I said that I had to pick up a few things and that they should get home to their kids. Waving goodbye, I watch them drive off until I can't see their car anymore. I take a deep breath and start on my way home.

I didn't want to go with Black Star or Tubaki because one, Black Star's a horrible driver, and two, because I needed some time to think things over in silent. I never expected for things to turn out like this, with Maka not knowing who I am. I thought that if it came to this, I'd be more upset, but I guess the truth hasn't really sunk in just yet. But I'm sure that by tomorrow it will. And I'll be in for quite a rude awakening.

The rest of the walk, I wish I had gone with Black Star and Tsubaki to take my mind away from this horrible predicament. Now, it's all I can think about, and I don't want to think about it. The walk home is long and lonely when you only have your thoughts to keep you company.

* * *

_No one can find the rewind button now,_

_So cradle your head in your hands._

_And breathe._

_Just breathe._

-Anna Nalik, Breathe (2 a.m.)


	13. Explain

**A/N: I'm SO sorry for not updating in so long. I've been busy beyond belief.**

**This chapter is written in ****Kid's perspective.**

**Set two or three days after the last chapter. **

**Thank you all so much for the reviews on the last chapter! You're all too nice c:**

* * *

_The same tricks that, that once fooled me_

_They won't get you anywhere_

_I'm not the same kid from your memory_

_Well, now I can fend for myself_

* * *

I find myself sighing for what seems like the millionth time today. "No, Maka, it's not that simple." I say, and she groans, sinking down into her hospital bed, crossing her arms. "What's the point of all this stuff anyway? I don't get it at all!" She says, agitated. Patty chuckles from the back of the room, and Liz tries to quiet her. I must remain calm. She's not, so I must make up for the both of us.

"Let me try this again, Maka. A meister is someone who can wield a weapon, and a weapon is someone who can transform. In laymen's terms, you can swing around a weapon like, I don't know, guns, or… a sword… or a scythe…" As I expected, Maka's soul flickered when I mentioned a scythe. Something inside her reacted. "A scythe? That sounds cool!" She says, excited now. She's excited about one of those hideous, asymmetrical things she and father used to swing around all the time. The thought sickens me. How can you live with yourself when you're so unbalanced? "Yeees… Erm, now then, you may be wondering, how do I know which weapon is for me? Well fortunately, you already have a compatible weapon partner. But if you are still curious, you have to be able to match soul wavelengths with your desired weapon partner. Sort of like, on terms of agreement with each other." I say, and she lifts an eyebrow in curiosity. "Why do I have to be a meister? Can't I be a weapon? That sounds cooler." She pouts. Patty starts to say something, but Liz clamps her hand over the younger girl's mouth, motioning for me to continue. I sigh again. "You can't choose what you want to be, Maka. You're born that way. And you should be proud, too. Being a meister requires bravery, determination, skill, the ability to keep a cool head, and so much more. All of which you have. You also have a weapon partner who's willing to risk his life for you. That's the job of a weapon. You'd have to be prepared to die for your meister." I say, and she looks down in disappointment. She probably didn't think there was that much sacrifice in being a weapon.

She lifts her head again and turns to look at me. "Are you a weapon or a meister?" She asks. "I'm a meister. All grim reapers are." I respond, and she nods. "So, what is everyone in our group of friends? Like, who's a weapon and who's a meister?" She asks. "You and I are meisters. Black Star is a meister, and so is Crona. Liz, Patty, Tsubaki and Soul are all weapons. Crona has a weapon named Ragnarok, but he doesn't make many appearances here. They used to be attached, but they were separated later on. He's sort of an outcast." I say, and Liz shifts a bit in the back. "Who's your weapon?" She asks, persistent. "Liz and Patty." I say, pointing to them. They wave and smile. Maka looks confused. "How can you have two weapons?" She asks, and Liz and Patty come over. "Like this. Liz, Patty," I say, holding out my hands. They transform into twin pistols and I catch them. Maka gasps and looks in awe.

A nurse walks in and asks me to put them away, and Liz and Patty turn back. Patty giggles, and Liz says they should go and check to see when Maka's getting her food. They walk out and shut the door behind them. The same nurse walks in and tells me that my time is up, and I stand up to leave. "Wait!" Maka says, and I turn. "Who's my weapon?" She asks. "Soul." I reply, and she groans, putting her pillow over her head. I make my move and leave the room.

* * *

People aren't too thrilled to see a grim reaper in a hospital.

In fact, most people grow quite frightful when someone sees the grim reaper visiting someone here.

Although I assure them that I am not here to take anyone's soul, it's quite understandable how fearful they grow.

But even Maka, a patient, is comfortable to see me. Most patients are as well. Therefore I do not understand anyone else's discomfort at this point. However, I digress.

After a few fearful glances from some rather distasteful people, I excuse myself to a break outside. To my surprise, I find Soul sitting on the bench near the front entrance. I invite myself to sit next to him. He stares straight ahead, although I'm sure he feels my presence next to him.

"I'm truly sorry." I say, and he nods slightly. Although I feel that he doesn't wish to speak to me about this at the moment, this is the only time I will probably be able to do so in private, without someone interrupting me.

"I know you don't want to talk about this right now, but sometimes you feel better if you let something off of your chest." I offer, and he turns his head slightly towards me. "Crona tell you that?" He asks, and I nod, glad that he's at least speaking to me now. Soul sighs and leans back. "I figured. No offense, but I doubt you'd actually ever come up with something like that. You've got the emotional range of a spoon." He smirks. I can't say that I'm too mad, because at least I know that he's not depressed. "Very funny." I respond, turning my head to look straight.

Soul places his elbow on his leg and rests his chin in the palm of his hand, looking straight ahead along with me. "What's it like being married to an emotional wreck?" He asks out of the blue, which causes me to turn and face him. "Crona? She's not an emotional wreck. She's actually grown quite strong since our days at the academy." I respond, and he nods slightly. "Just wonderin'." He says. We stay silent for a few more moments. A few visitors pass us on their way in and recoil in fear at the sight of me, rushing in. Soul chuckles. "I wonder who they're scared of, me or you." He says. I smile slightly. "I can't say it matters much. Neither of us are monsters, especially not you. I think the only reason they're scared to see me is because I'm a grim reaper at a hospital. I can assume it's not a very comforting thought." I say, and he smirks.

We stay outside for quite a while. Our topic of conversation shifts often, and we speak of many things. I try to stray away from the topic of Maka, and to my relief that I wasn't the one who had to bring it up, Soul starts talking about her.

"Hey Kid, you know any freaky reaper magic that'll make Maka remember everything?" Soul says out of the blue, and I sadly look over to him. "Reapers don't know magic, Soul. But trust me, if I did know any, I'd definitely use it. I can tell that you don't know where to turn to about this." I say, and he nods, looking down at his shoes. I sigh.

"I was speaking with Maka before about weapons and meisters. Her soul flickered the moment when I mentioned her wielding a scythe. From what I can assume, I think she still has her memories locked away deep inside her brain. She hasn't forgotten us completely. We just need to get those memories unlocked." I reassure him, although I don't mention that she was disappointed when I mentioned him being her partner. I don't think Soul made a very good first impression on her.

Soul looks thoughtful for a moment. He doesn't say anything for a while. After his pause, he stands and turns to face me. "Thanks for the talk, Kid. Really helped a lot. I've… Gotta go clean the house. Get it ready for Maka. Tell everyone I said bye."

He leaves before I can reply. I watch him slowly walk down the street and sidewalk until I can't see him anymore.

* * *

_Don't wanna hear your sad songs, _

_I don't wanna feel your pain._

_When you say it's all my fault _

_Cause you know we're not the same_

_We're not the same_

_No, we're not the same._

-Paramore, _Ignorance_

* * *

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**Thanks for reading and reviewing!**


	14. Discharged

**A/N: ****Soul's Perspective**** again, finally! Hope you enjoy. I tried to put some humor in this chapter.**

* * *

_Some say I'm a bit of a fool,_

_Sitting on a hill _

_And counting raindrops._

* * *

Maka's getting discharged from the hospital today.

I think Kid's OCD tendencies have rubbed off on me, because I've been checking everything non-stop to make sure it's perfect for her.

I've put away our wedding photos, and any other proof that we're married. I suppose Maka lost her wedding ring in the crash, so the only one I put in our drawer was my own. The piano's nice and dusted, I have breakfast made out for her, and our friends are coming over later. Crona's coming home with us, however. She has a few bags packed, and Kid's going to stay for a little while as well.

Liz let me have her car, free of charge. She said she needed a new one anyway, but I thought it was actually really nice of her to do that.

When I arrived at the hospital, the nurses brought me into Maka's room, asking if I brought her regular clothes. I did; I picked a pair of comfortable clothes that she always said she loved to curl up into them with a good book and a cup of tea.

Maka sat upright on the hospital bed and only raised her eyebrows when I walked into the room. I did my best to give her a smile, but I'm honestly not feeling too good right now. I'm a bit nauseous. It's probably just because I'm excited for Maka to come home. I hand her the clothes, and she walks slowly to the bathroom with a nurse to change her. She's still probably injured from the crash, but she's been going to physical therapy for a while. She can do most everything by herself now.

When she walks out of the bathroom, I notice how her hair is really messy. Since Kid and Crona haven't arrived yet, (probably getting Tsubaki to babysit for a while) I figured we had a little time to kill. "Your hair's pretty messy," I say, touching it lightly. "Want me to fix it? I can show you how you used to do it a lot." I offer, and she shrugs, motioning to the nurse that she can leave if she wants. When the door shuts, I search around the room for a comb and some hair ties. I'm not very good at doing hair other than my own, but I figure that this style seems pretty easy to do, taking into account Maka used to do it every single day of her life in about 10 seconds flat.

Maka sits back down on the bed and holds up I mirror I handed to her so she can see what I'm doing with her hair. I spend a few minutes combing it; she has lots of knots since she hasn't been able to comb it very well for the past few days. She flinches every time I comb through one, like I little girl. I actually think it's pretty amusing.

Taking half of her hair, I try to put it up in a pigtail like she always used to do. It takes a few tries, but I finally manage to do it. Just before I get to work on the other side, Kid and Crona are led into the room. Kid's eyes grow wide seeing as only one side of her hair is up.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO HER?" He yells, rushing over quickly. He pulls out the hair tie on the side of Maka's head, pulling out some strands of hair with it. "Ouch! Why did you do that?" She asks, angry. "Oh, come on, Kid! It took me 7 tries to get that one up, and I was just about to do the other one! Why can't you just chill for once?" I yell, and Kid and I get into an argument about the asymmetrical pigtail and my amount of tries to get Maka's hair into it while Crona sheepishly explains Kid's OCD tendencies to a very confused Maka.

The argument finally ends with Crona pulling Kid away from the two of us and me quickly putting both pigtails as symmetrically as possible into Maka's hair so that Kid doesn't freak out. When I finish, Maka stares at her hair in the mirror for a few seconds before turning her head slightly to me. "…Thanks. It looks nice." She says, and stands up. I find myself grinning like a complete idiot, and Kid is happy that both pigtails are perfectly equal.

I lead Maka out into the lobby slowly while Kid and Crona walk ahead of us to check her out. We wait there for a few minutes, taking part in a small conversation of weather Crona has everything she needs and where she's going to be sleeping and why that photo frame behind the main desk seems slightly tilted. It takes all of Kid's efforts not to jump behind the counter and go on an angry rampage about the importance of symmetry in our everyday lives, fixing the photograph. I could only imagine how that would go down. He'd probably be taken away by security.

We lead Maka into the parking lot and into Liz's former car. She settles herself in snugly and I put on the seatbelt for her. She plays with the window while I speak to Kid and Crona in front of the car for a second. They get into their car and we all head off, hopefully seeing the hospital for the last time in a while.

When we arrive at our house, Maka looks at it in awe. Our house is pretty nice for one in a city. Kid parks behind me and we all get out of our cars, while I pull out my keys. Crona nervously grips her luggage, knuckles turning white. I turn the key and open the front door, hoping I didn't forget to clean anything or hide anything. That would be pretty awkward.

I walk in first, then Kid, Crona, and Maka. I close the front door behind her, as she scans the living room, looking quite impressed. "So, what do you think of it?" I ask Maka, and she nods, smiling slightly. "It's pretty nice, I guess. Mind showing me around? I don't remember where anything is." She says, and I nod. I take Crona's bags and lead them all to the guest room, where I'll be sleeping. Next came our would-have-been nursery, converted into a second guestroom, where Crona would be sleeping. I left her bags in there, which Kid organized so that the two bags were on each side of the bed. As much as that was annoying, I sometimes find his OCD to be pretty amusing. After that, I showed Maka where our room was, (where she'd sleep) where the kitchen was, the bathroom, how to get onto the deck, and back to the living room.

It was only 10:34 when we finished the grand tour, so Kid decided to stay for a little while longer. I decided that I should let everyone have breakfast, so I led them to the kitchen again, unwrapping some pancakes in plastic I made this morning. Handing everyone a plate, we all sat around the table in a pretty awkward silence. This was partially due to Kid having difficulties trying to cut his 8 pancakes symmetrically.

Maka ate every bit of her food; she told me that they what they served in the hospital was horrible and she had never tasted anything better. We both smiled, and I even saw Crona's lips curve at the corners slightly.

When we all are finished, Kid having exactly 8 pieces of pancake left on his plate, the three of them go into the living room to chat while I take everything and put it into the sink.

When I return to the group, Kid is getting ready to leave, promising he'd be back later for our get-together.. Maka and I wave, but Crona sees him out. I think he had to reassure her that she made the right choice while they were outside, since they were there for a while and it looked like she had finished crying when she returned inside. I felt bad, but didn't want to worry Maka. We all watched Kid drive away from the window, and then we went about our business. Maka picked up a book, Crona twiddled her thumbs, and I double-checked everything. After I finished that, I offered to help Crona unpack all of her things. She agreed and followed me to her room.

The first few minutes of unpacking went silently. I got Crona's few possessions and she got her clothes. She mostly just continues to wear a slightly bigger version of her black dress, since it's simple and comfortable. She doesn't like having stand-out clothes.

To the regular person, Crona seems to be a weird person who you don't want to associate with in the slightest. But to me, I think she's actually really interesting. After a while, we break the awkwardness and just start talking. We talk about kids, food, future plans, Ragnarok, how we can help Maka, and some other topics. We do have a pretty good time, and I'm glad she's decided to stay with us.

When we return to the living room, Maka isn't there. Confused, we walk around the house looking for her. We eventually find her going through pots in the kitchen.

"Maka, what are you doing?" I ask, and she turns. "Didn't you say we were having a little get together later?" She asks, and I reply with a yes. "Well, won't we need a cake or something?" She says, picking up a baking sheet. Crona picks up a pan off the floor. I smile a tiny bit. "Maka, you don't use pots to bake a cake… and we're not making one. I'm horrible at baking. And do you really know any recipes?" I ask, and she slowly shrugs. "…No… But we could wing it…" She suggests, and Crona raises her eyebrows. She turns towards me with a hopeful look in her eyes. I can't help but smile a bit wider and decide to give it a try. Crona joins us as well.

Maka starts to give directions. At least she kept her old bossy personality. "Okay, you two, first things first, we need to find the cookbook. Do you know where it is?" She asks me, and I shrug. I don't think Maka organized it in the bookshelf, and we hardly ever used it. But we search around anyway. Crona looks in the book shelf; I look in drawers, and Maka searches upstairs. Finally, Crona finds a small one and I flip to the table of contents.

"What kind of cake do you want to make?" I ask, and Maka furrows her eyebrows. "Kind? What kind? I just want to make a cake." She says, and I point in the book. "Well, there are lots of kinds of cakes. There's chocolate cake, yellow cake, red velvet cake…" I start to list off, and Maka quickly replies with: "Chocolate cake." I flip to the page and start to read the ingredients off to them.

"Let's see… We'll need four sticks of butter, eight teaspoons of cocoa, four cups of flour and sugar, a half a teaspoon of salt, two cups boiling water, one cup buttermilk, two teaspoons of baking soda and vanilla, and four eggs… Do we even have all of this?" I ask, and we immediately set off looking for supplies.

We found most. Luckily we had cocoa sitting in the back of the pantry (probably expired) but we only had three eggs and two sticks of butter. We figured it would do, and got to work. We followed nearly every direction to a T: except, we forgot to preheat the oven, put too much cocoa, dropped two eggs, had flour explode on my face, have boiling water pour on Crona's dress and all over the floor, and butter smeared on Maka's hands so she couldn't pick anything up.

By the end of this fiasco, we were very messy. Flour coated my face, Crona's hair, and Maka's shirt. I spilled Vanilla on my pant bottoms, and Crona stepped in egg. There's cocoa on her face. Maka has some salt in her hair and her hands are covered in butter.

The cake didn't come out too well.

I thought that Maka would be mad that her plan didn't work out and we were a mess, but when I looked at her, she started bursting into laughter. Soon, I did too and Crona laughed quietly.

By this time it was getting late, everyone would be here soon, and we were cake-less and messy. I decided to quickly go out and get one, but as luck would have it, the doorbell rang that very instant. I opened the door to reveal Death the Kid.

He stared at all of us for a few seconds. Then he started to shake and stutter.

Before he could go on a rampage, he walked back down the steps and left.

Crona face palmed and Maka and I continued our laughing spree.

Not long after, Liz stopped by, saying Patty was babysitting. She stayed for a little while, but left soon afterwards. Tsubaki and Black Star came after her, and Kid stopped by again after we were all cleaned up. They all left at around midnight.

Crona went to bed early and I taught Maka to play Go Fish. She said she liked it, and she wanted to play some more games. I told her I'd teach her to play War and 500 Rummy some other time. I told her that if she were good enough, I'd even teach her to play 42 Pickup.

She went to sleep after we played five games of Go Fish.

Before I went to sleep, I checked up on both of them. Crona was fast asleep, but Maka was propped up on her pillow. I opened the door a bit wider so she'd know I was there, and she turned and smiled slightly, but asked me to leave. I nodded and closed the door, disappointed that she still doesn't trust me in the same room with her. Even after all of the fun we had today.

I don't know if I can handle her being like this.

* * *

_Keep thinking,_

_I just wanna go._

_To the peaceful place I know_

_That I call home._

-Sjonni's Friends, Coming Home

* * *

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**Thank you for reading and reviewing!**


	15. Spirit

_Sometimes I'd stay up all night_

_Wishing to God that I was the one who died._

_And sometimes there's not enough time._

* * *

I woke up at the crack of dawn this morning. The bed in our guestroom isn't as comfortable as our regular bed, so I really didn't sleep all too well. But I'm glad I got to wake up early, since I got to see what time everyone was going to wake up every day. Maka was sleeping like a baby, while Crona told me she's been up since 5:00. Either she's an early bird or has insomnia. Probably the latter. I should ask Kid if waking up this early is normal for her.

Anyway, I did some chores (they seem never-ending) while Crona drank a cup of tea she made herself. After I had finished the dishes, I started making Maka's breakfast. It was a bit weird having Crona watch what I've been doing every day for the past few years. I know that she isn't going to judge me, but I still feel like a housewife. It's completely embarrassing and degrading.

With that finished, I finally had some time to relax. But just as Crona took her cup to the sink and I sank down into the sofa, there's a frantic knocking at the door. It sounds so urgent that I jump up immediately and rush over to the front door, hoping nothing happened to any of our friends. I really don't need another tragedy in my life right now.

Now you wouldn't be able to imagine my shock when I saw Spirit crying, snotting, and snorting in despair while kneeling at the ground at our door. Something tells me he's been doing only this since he got the news that Maka was in an accident. I can tell because he looks like a wreck and his tears and breathing are really labored. I just stare down at this pathetic looking man, and Crona silently observes from the kitchen. I can tell that this is too interesting for her to miss.

Very few of Death Scythe's words are legible. But what I can make of it is that he wants to see Maka, is she okay, what did I do to her, why couldn't he be there to protect her, so on and so forth. I really didn't know what to do, so I just let him stay out there until he calmed down. This of course took a while; and it was a huge waste of time. I could have been curing cancer in the time it took for Spirit to calm down.

When Spirit was ready to behave like a civilized human being, I let him come inside. He sat on the couch for a while, breathing heavily before he asked me to get Maka for him. I was reluctant, but seeing as this was his daughter, I did. Maka was still sleeping when I went into her room. I quietly walked up to her and gentle shook her awake.

Maka opened her eyes wearily and I smiled, trying to look happy when in reality I was nervous that her father would throw another tantrum and scare/injure her. "Hey, Maka. Breakfast is ready for you. You also have someone who wants to see you." Maka furrowed her eyebrows, sat up and stretched. "Thanks. But who is it?" She asked. "It's your father. He wants to see how you're doing." I replied, and she nodded, smiling.

When we walked back into the living room, Spirit was sitting calmly on the couch with Crona next to him. They both smiled at us, and thank Death that Spirit didn't wail or jump on Maka. I'm actually very surprised he was able to put on a calm face despite his worries.

"Hi, Maka. You don't remember me, but my name is Spirit. I'm your father." He said, sounding a bit nervous. Maka walked up to him and gave him a handshake, smiling. "It's good to see you, Father." She said, smiling as well. Spirit slightly looked down. "Your mother would have come too, but she's still out of the country. She's on a special mission for Lord Death right now, but fortunately I returned home last night. I'm just so glad I was able to see you, and that you have no injuries." Spirit said. I stood, and Maka looked at me. "I'm going to go get your breakfast so you can eat in here while you talk to your father." I said, and they nodded. Crona followed me.

We stepped into the kitchen as quietly as we could, still listening to Maka and Spirit's conversation. When I unwrapped the plastic on the waffles for all of us, Crona sighed and looked down. "I feel so sorry for him. It must be so terrible that the daughter you raised and loved doesn't know who you are. And he's putting on such a straight face, too. I think this is the nicest Maka has ever been to Spirit." She said, and I nodded. As much as I found him annoying, I really did feel bad for him. Especially since we're sort of on the same page here.

"Let's hope they can build a better relationship than they had when Maka did remember how he cheated on Kami." I said, and she nodded, smiling a tiny bit. We carried in two plates of waffles for all of us and set them down on the coffee table so that everyone could grab them, as well as plates, syrup, napkins, forks and knives. As the two of them talked, I noticed how Maka seemed to be getting a little annoyed at how clingy Spirit was getting. He talked about her and only her. I could tell that she appreciated the attention, but at the same time she really wanted to cut the subject and talk about something different.

"So," Maka cut off Spirit in the middle of his speech about how he worried so much while he was in Canada. "How is mom? How is living with her?" She asked, putting more syrup on her waffles. Crona and I looked at each other quickly and we popped out of our seats. Spirit was silent. "We're going to get drinks!" Crona and I said simultaneously. We walked quickly into the kitchen. When we turned the corner, We started to worry openly.

"This is bad! Maka is going to hate Spirit for cheating when she hardly knows him!" Crona said. I looked over the corner at them, and then walked to the tea kettle, bringing it to the sink so I could put water in it. As I ran the tap, I looked over to Crona. "Don't worry. I doubt he'll reveal that piece of information so easily. If anything, it's Kami who's going to-"I say, but get cut off by an outburst from Maka in the other room.

"YOU _WHAT?_" She yells, and I hear a plate clatter on the floor. I'm too afraid to look, but I can tell she's standing over spirit, who's probably cowering in fear. Crona clasps her hands over her mouth, but I can tell that she really wants to hear this. After all, she never got to have her own regular drama with her mother.

"You _cheated _on mom?" Maka shouts, though a bit more quietly now. I hear Spirit mumbling something, but I can't hear it. Neither can Maka. "…What?" She says, and Spirit sounds as if he has tears in his eyes. "I'm sorry! I really am! I didn't mean it like I didn't love your mother, because I still do, with all my heart! It's just that with work and being a Death Scythe, I never had time for any fun! And your mother was the type of woman who always puts work, and you, first! I couldn't help it! I'm a horrible father!" He wailed. Crona and I stood silently, waiting for Maka's reply. It never came. Peeking over the corner, we could see Maka leading Spirit to the door.

"Thank you for coming to visit me. I really appreciate knowing who you are. But I don't appreciate the things you told me, so I wish you a good day. Goodbye, Father." She says emotionlessly, shutting the door on his face. She peeks out the window, and when she sees him finally leave (half an hour later) she coils up on the couch and cries. Crona and I silently watch for a few minutes before I slowly step out of the kitchen so I can comfort her.

When I reach the couch, I sit next to her and put a comforting hand on her back. She looks up, tears in her eyes, but doesn't say anything for a while. After about fifteen minutes of crying, she turns to look at me, her eyes puffy. "Do all men cheat on their partners?" She asks.

I stare at her for a few moments.

"Of course not, Maka. You are my meister, and I am your weapon. We are partners. And I will never cheat on you. You can count on it." I say. I look over to the corner where Crona and I were peeking before, but she is no longer there. My guess is that she's listening from the kitchen table. But I'm okay with that.

Maka then does something she hasn't done in so long. She turns me around and hugs me. I stay there; shocked for a few seconds, but then I wrap my arms around her as well, closing my eyes. We are all silent, other than Maka's crying. She buries her face in my shirt and cries. She cries and cries until she can't cry another minute.

* * *

_But I didn't know I'd love you so much_

_I didn't know I'd love you so much_

_I didn't know I'd love you so much,_

_But I do._

_-Repo! The Genetic Opera, _I Didn't Know I'd Love You So Much

* * *

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	16. Stories

**A/N: Thank you to ManiacTenshiMakenshi for the song to use for this chapter :D**

* * *

_She is here and now I think she's ready to go._

_For every love that's lost I heard a new one comes._

* * *

You will never guess who came to visit us today.

Welp, I guess I'll just tell you now.

Early morning once again, nothing strange about Crona and I being awake. I'm reading the news and Crona stares out the window at the sun beginning to rise in late summer. Maka had just woken up and sat in the chair next to me, sipping a cup of coffee. The shirt she was wearing as her pajama shirt was one of my old ones, and it was a bit large for her. You could hardly see her hands because fo the sleeves, and it looked baggy and comfortable. She looked soft, and I wanted to hug her.

But I didn't.

Crona sighed, Maka yawned, and I coughed. These are pretty much our conversations now. I'm getting worried that Crona is miserable here, since she's now been here for a week. She hasn't stepped outside in days. As long as she keeps calling Kid every day, I think she can make it.

Crona gets up and says she's going to call Kid, and she walks to her bedroom for privacy. It's just Maka and I here now. And since I've finished reading the news, I put it down and look over to her. I guess now would be the best time to make some conversation.

"So… How's the coffee?" I ask, smiling. She puts her cup down. "It's good. Thanks." She says without looking at me. I nod. After a few moments of silence, I ask her another question. "How do you like it here so far? You designed the whole place yourself, you know." I say, and she looks around at the walls. We tried to keep it looking a lot like our old apartment, but at the same time we stepped it up a little.

She nods. "I like it a lot. It's very nice here." She says, smiling a bit. She taps her fingers on the table. "So, how do you feel? Any pain?" I ask. She shakes her head. "Not much anymore." She says, cracking her back. I smile. "Well that's good. Maybe we can train again soon. You know, we were supposed to be on a mission about now. But because of the accident…" I trail off. She nods. We stay silent for a little while. Then it was her turn to ask a question.

"Soul, did I ever make you a death scythe?"

I look up. She has a real curious look on her face. I shake my head. "No, you didn't. Right now we have about 89 souls collected. Ever since we all defeated the kishin when we were still in school, we've been given less missions. And due to… a memory problem you had, we were given even less missions and sometimes we couldn't finish the ones we were given. But it was always my dream to be a death scythe." I say, sighing. Maka looks down.

I then realize how awful I must have made her feel. "But, that was when I was younger. Now I'm fine being an ordinary weapon." I say, and now she sighs. "But it's my fault you couldn't be a death scythe. Because of me you never got to live your dream." She says, looking down. She takes in a breath. "But this time, I promise I'm gonna make you a death scythe. I'm gonna try harder than ever." She says, looking up and smiling. I can't help but smile right back at her.

Then there's a knock at the door. Maka sighs, and puts her chin in her hand. "Please don't tell me it's my idiot father." She says, and I stand. I shrug, as I walk over to the door to answer it. And as I do, a voice I haven't heard in years speaks to me.

"Hi, little scythey boy!"

"Oh, uhm, hi, Blair… Why… How…" I say, but she tackles me into a hug. And like the hugs she used to give when I was in the academy, it involves my face pressed into her breasts. As I struggle trying to pry her off of me, Maka speaks from the other room. "Soul, who is it?" She asks, and I can tell she's walked in from the silence. Blair springs up off of me and smiles endearingly at Maka. "Hi, miss Maka! I heard you got into a little accident, so I came to check up and you and Soul!" She purrs. "Uh, yeah, I did. Um, sorry if I'm interrupting your meeting with your… girlfriend, Soul." Maka says, and I immediately spring up. "Girlfriend?! Blair?! Ooooh, no, no, no, she's not, we're not—"I try to say, but Blair cuts me off. "Oh silly, I'm not dating your hu-" She starts to say, but I cover her mouth.

"SO, Blair, what's that you have there?" I ask, changing the subject immediately. Maka looks very confused. Blair holds up the box she has in her hand. "This is a pumpkin pie! I baked it for you two~" She says, handing it to Maka. Maka smiles a bit. "Oh, thank you, um… Blair." She says. Blair leads us to the kitchen, and sits us both down in chairs. She turns into a cat and springs up onto the table. Maka looks so utterly confused.

"Oh, um, Maka, Blair is a cat. We fought her once because we had 99 souls and we needed the soul of a witch, and we thought she was one, and we ate her soul but it turns out she was simply a cat. We had to do our soul collecting all over again." I explain. Maka nods, opening Blair's pie box. Blair stands and shakes, jumping off of the table and over to where Maka has taken the pie to cut it.

At that moment, Crona walks back into the room. She doesn't notice that Blair is there at first, until Blair notices her and gasps, changing into her human form. Blair jumps onto her in a fashion like she did to me.

"Oh, it's so good to see you, Crona! How are you? How is Kid? How are the kids?" She says, grabbing her head and spinning her around. Maka goes over to pull Blair off of Crona.

Crona gasps for air before replying. "Oh, um… good… we're… all good…" She says. Crona sits and Blair turns into a cat, lying in her lap. Maka brings us all slices of pie, and sits with us. We all eat slowly, not knowing what to say.

"So, can you tell me more about the time we fought Blair?" Maka asks, and I smile, putting down my fork.

The three of them are a great audience. They laugh and they gasp and they cheer. After I tell the story on our failed attempt at making me a death scythe, Maka asks to hear another story. So I tell her the one with us and Crona in the Czech Republic. After that I backtrack to when we first met Crona, I tell them about us finding Sid in Hook Cemetery, when the kishin woke up, and defeating him.

By afternoon I'm all out of stories to tell. I've told about all of our adventures and days at the academy, everything I remember. Blair decides to keep the flow going by telling a few stories about her kithood and tales she was told as a kitten. We talk while I make lunch and dinner and while we're eating.

After Blair is out of stories like I am, we are silent for a while. We don't look at Crona, who we know doesn't want to share stories of her past. But since Maka doesn't know Crona's past, she asks anyway. We all look at her, who twiddles her fingers.

"I can tell a few stories if you want. Nothing big, though." Crona finally says, and Maka looks pleased. Blair and I look at each other. But Crona begins to speak.

"When I was little, my mother brought home a strange sword. This sword was black and I don't remember what it said, but it was loud and it talked a lot. It didn't come out of its sword form, because it didn't want us to see it. But Medusa took the sword one day and made me hold it. She made me swing it around and hit things with it. I liked how it felt in my hands, and I liked the power I felt when I held it. "

"Medusa took the sword that night to her lab. I don't know what she did, but she had somehow melted it down into blood. Black blood. And she took me and put me to sleep. And when I woke up, there was this really terrible pain in my back. It hurt so bad that I couldn't help but scream sometimes. For weeks I didn't know what the pain was, but I just wished and wished that it would go away. And one day, the pain stopped for a second. I was so relieved. But then it came back, but worse. And the pain kept on getting worse and worse and I kept screaming until I felt it burst from my body. And there was this little black blob thing that was yelling at me to cut it out. That was Ragnarok."

Crona looked down. "After that, we started training as partners. I was told to kill small animals and if I refused I was locked in a room for days. Even after that I was forced to kill the animal. Although I hated doing it, I loved the feeling of being dominant and superior. Knowing that the fate of the creature was in my hands. The power." She said. Dead silence. "It just goes to show that power can be a terrible thing sometimes." She concluded.

"Oh… I… I'm sorry, Crona…" Maka stutters. Crona shakes her head. "Don't be. What happened in my past has made me a stronger person. And memories can be nice or bad, but that's all they are. They're just memories. In the end, it doesn't matter what happened in the past. All that matters is what I'm going to do to make my horrible past into a better future." Crona said.

Blair had the subject changed quickly. But Maka kept glancing at Crona while Blair spoke. Crona can look like an innocent person with a decent life on the outside. But inside, deep down, Crona holds dark secrets and horrid memories that are too horrible for even her to speak of.

Crona is a perfect example that people aren't always what they seem.

Blair stays until very late at night. It's about 12:20 when she decides to leave. And although she can be annoying or overbearing sometimes, I really wish she would stay to help me through this. She's just a positive influence and a truly caring person. Or cat.

But Blair leaves and we all wave goodbye sadly. We finish her pie and think about the stories we had been told.

And as I lay there in bed, just thinking, Crona's words seep into my mind one last time just before I drift off to sleep.

"_All that matters is what I'm going to do to make my horrible past into a better future."_

But I don't go to sleep. Because my door opens at that moment. I look over to see Maka standing in the doorway.

"Sorry, did I wake you up?" She whispers. I shake my head. "No, I wasn't sleeping yet. What's wrong?" I ask, and Maka wrings her hands through her oversized shirt sleeves. "Well," She starts, coming inside a bit more and closing the door behind her. "I'm worried about Crona. I didn't know that her mother was…" She trails off. I nod, and sit up in the bed. "When I heard that her mother forced her to do all those things, killing animals and putting someone who bullied her into her blood, it got me wondering… how could someone do that to their child?" She says, a little shaky.

I pat the spot next to me on the bed. She sits there. "Maka, you have a really great mom. She's a very busy lady but she cares so much about you, so much that you wouldn't be able to understand. And before you lost your memory, she was your absolute idol. You always strived to be exactly like her. And she'd support you in everything you did. She loved you to no end." I told her, and she smiled. "You were a very lucky kid." I said.

"But Crona wasn't so lucky." I continued. "Her mother was a terrible woman. She used Crona as a tool to do all of her bidding. She manipulated her into believing what she was doing was good and okay. Crona had nearly become a kishin. She was eating the souls of innocent humans because Medusa told her it was okay. But after we befriended her, our view of her as an enemy changed. We learned that she hated violence and was actually an innocent and caring person. And it just goes to show that people aren't always what they seem." I told her. Maka nodded.

She sighed. "I can't think about it without it worrying me. Crona hides all of it so well. I just makes me wonder how I would have turned out if my life had been like that. It's… scary." She admitted. I can tell that she's really spooked by this. So I do the best thing I can think of.

I scoot over and open the covers for her to come in. She gladly does so. At least now I know she trusts me enough to sleep in the same bed as me.

We face each other. "Try not to think about it, okay? You mom is coming in a few days to see you, and then you'll know how good a woman she was. You don't need to worry about Crona; Medusa is dead and she won't come back. Crona can sleep peacefully at night knowing that no one is going to hurt her anymore. So try and go to sleep. I' right here if you need me." I say, and she nods. It's dark, but I think I can see her smiling. "Thanks, Soul." She says, and I close my eyes.

It is such a nice feeling, going to sleep with the person you care for the most lying down right next to you. And before I drift off for real this time, I swear I feel a light pair of lips on my cheek.

* * *

_It's a beautiful thing when we you love somebody,_

_And I love somebody._

_Yeah, I love somebody._

-Fun., Take Your Time (Coming Home)

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	17. Wonder

_Try as I may,_

_It doesn't last._

_And will we ever_

_End up together?_

* * *

I don't know if I can get used to life like this.

I mean, Soul is nice and all, but every day I wake up wondering what my life was like before this happened to me. Who am I? What happened? Is everyone telling me the truth?

But living here is sort of making me uncomfortable. Today I woke up in Soul's bed and for a minute I forgot why I was there. But after a few moments, I remembered that I was worried about Crona and he let me sleep in his bed. I thought that was really nice of him to comfort me like that, although he knows I barely know him.

Or do I?

He said we're partners and good friends, but he always tries to change the subject when I talk about his memories of me. I mean, did I do something bad to him before? Does he not like me at all? I don't see what I did wrong. Maybe he just doesn't like me. I can't say I'm too mad. I really don't blame him for not liking a burden like me. Even though I'm sort of starting to like. But it's not like we're ever going to end up together, anyway.

Still, it really does make me wonder sometimes.

Soul said he's going to take me to see "the professor" in a few days. Now I have no clue who this professor might be, but I really hope that this guy can help me so that I can live a normal life again and see how far off I was with my assumptions of what my life used to be like. I think it'll be funny to see if I ever get my memories back.

Which I know I will!

I feel really determined about finding out who I was. I mean, who wouldn't be? Soul tells me that I always used to be super determined about everything. That I did so well in all of my classes at school because I was determined to beat my academic rival. (Whose name is apparently Ox. Huh.) He told me that I was always at the top of the class due specifically because of my desire to beat everyone. I guess I used to be a really cool kid.

So, so far, from what I assume:

Soul doesn't like me.

Crona is an emotional wreck.

Kid is a butthole.

Black Star is, too.

Tsubaki is overbearing but super nice.

Liz and Patty are really weird and should probably see a doctor.

And then it's going to turn out that I was super wrong, and Black Star and Kid are super nice, Tsubaki and Crona are tyrants, Soul is in love with me, and Liz and Patty are completely sane and we're the ones who act weird.

But I laugh at that assumption that Soul loves me! I mean, come on. He seems like he has no feelings in the slightest. He doesn't like to talk a lot, he's always monotone when he speaks, and I don't even think he has a family. Maybe he was just like Crona growing up? I should ask about that. Plus he always seems stressed out when I try to speak to him and he never wants to talk about how we were back before I lost my memory.

This whole situation makes me mad and upset. So far nothing has come back to me. I don't remember a single damn thing and I really can't do anything about it and it sucks. It sucks knowing that whatever I try is gonna end up in complete and utter failure and it's probably only my fault. I hate not liking Soul even though for all I know we could have been crazy in love before. And all I really want to know is how this happened and what I could have done to prevent it, if I even could have at all.

So I asked Soul about it today while Crona was sleeping in. (Which is good, because she has me so worried.)

We sat on the couch while we both watched this weird commercial on TV that he really seemed to like (something about a fair.) and I tried to bring it up really casually. "So, Soul, uh, you mind telling me how all this happened?" I started, and he turned to me with an inquisitive look plastered on his face. "How what started out?" He asked. "Well you know, my memory?" I clarified hopefully. He lowered the TV a little bit and shrugged. "You had memory problems for a while. Then I guess it all became too much and you snapped because of a car accident." He said quickly, turning back to the commercial. It was just about over, because an address was showing on the screen.

I hummed. Really? That was it? That would explain why I woke up from a coma in a hospital. But still, I get the feeling that he's hiding something from me. I don't know what it is, but he sure as hell is not willing to share it with me. I make up my mind right then and there as we chat a little bit more.

I decide I'm searching the whole house for clues tomorrow or maybe even tonight. I can't stand not knowing anymore. It's killing me inside.

* * *

_No, I think not._

_It's never to become._

_For I am not the one._

_-The Nightmare Before Christmas, Sally's Song._


End file.
